Rabbit Run
by Dimension Distorter
Summary: He always wished that life would give him more that he had. Simple things, being a life of adventure and a family to call his own. Maybe the cost was unexpected. Maybe he had to leave all that he knew and even experience some pain along the way. Yet with the aid of his new family, he'll use it as a means to makes themselves known the world over. What better way than make big waves?
1. Rabbit Run

Yes, yes. I feel kinda terrible that I'm bringing out yet ANOTHER story. My plates already too full yet I'm stacking on more. However, I feel that this needed to be done and it had to be done properly. Like, there was no one else who possibly could've incorporated this well enough. That…and no one seemed interested in taking up the story when mellra posted the challenge for it. So the two of us decided to tag-team on it. We each do a chapter while helping the other give ideas to the next one and the next, though the story is obviously posted on my profile. And since it's a literal team effort and not just me writing, neither of us is going to realistically limit ourselves even more after making another story. BUT….before any of you get to reading this story, we BOTH suggest that you read the manga that inspired it in the first place. Not 'One Piece' or 'Naruto' obviously, but 'Oumagadoki Zoo'. The second central character, Shiina, is who Naruto is going to be based off of this time around. Plus…the manga is entertaining as hell and ends on a pretty amazing note. Though I wish that it'd be continued, I'm content with the ending. Don't worry though. This story is kinda like a side-project for us, but it's an important one. Our main stories are still out top priority and we'll do those as often as we usually do.

But in my opinion, this is too good to pass up. Though I believe that to those of you who have not read mellra's challenge story of this then you should check that out to get the gist of how this chapter is going to go down. But since I'm writing the first real chapter there are going to be a lot of different things and extra's to place. Now sit back and enjoy the epic-ness.

Chapter 1:

 **Rabbit Run**

At the first half of the Grand Line, known to everyone as 'Paradise', resides a Winter Island known as Drum Island. Its icy drum-shaped mountain peaks, known as the Drum Rockies, reached so high that they go on for miles on end and can be spotted easily from the vast blue sea. Being a Winter Island it obviously always snowed, had blizzards, even the occasional hail at times. But that didn't mean the conditions for living there were unsafe. Actually, it is the location of the Drum Kingdom and had quite a few decent sized settlements all around the island. It contained four different villages which are Bighorn, Cocoa Weed, Gyasta, and Robelle. At the peak of the tallest mountain is Drum Castle, where the current ruler of the royal family lived. Or used to live, since there was barely anybody inhabiting the impressive castle. However, all of the real hustle and bustle is located in Bighorn where interesting things always tend to happen.

"Dammit, brat!"

"We'll get you for this!"

"You got nowhere to run this time!"

"Hahahaha! You wish! No one can ever catch me!"

What was currently taking place at the moment was a few adult villagers, all covered in unusual mounds of snow on a non-snowy day, chasing a small child. The child was wearing a heavy jacket with the sleeves and neck being orange and the rest being white. He wore a big, puffy red scarf, blue heavy pants, and black boots. His most noticeable features though were his very bright blond spiky hair, three whisker marks on each cheek and azure colored eyes. He gave a big grin as he looked at him before he stuck his tongue out at his pursuers, making them even more riled up than before. If you're wondering why he is being chased like this, well it is because the young blond had just pulled one of his harmless pranks. Harmless as in, no collateral damage. The only damage was to the pride of who his unlucky targets were.

It wasn't even anything very complex. He just gathered three wooden sleds from a storage shack, brought them up to a large hill, and piled a large mass of snow on each before sending them sliding forward. The same villagers that were chasing him through Bighorn were the same ones who had their legs swept from under them as they fell into the snow piles. Then the sleds, still having momentum, carried them into even bigger mounds of the frozen water. Again not impressively creative but he was just a 5-year-old boy after all. But even if he didn't do something as grand as paint a mountain, it still had the desired effect.

"Get back here brat!"

"How can a kid run so fast!? What are you!? Part Laphan!?"

"You're all just slow!" Naruto laughed again before sliding down a hill. The adults made the mistake of trying to stop since they ended up slipping onto their rears or fronts and began to tumble and roll. Naruto heard a small rumbling, making him look back and gasp to see a comical snowball headed towards him. He slid out of the way and let it pass, making it slam into the side of a large building and blowing apart. The previously trapped villagers groaning in discomfort as they were cold and dazed. Naruto finally made it down before he got up and laughed at them all.

"Just look at you guys! You never had a chance! I'm untouchable!" He bragged with mirth. He would've walked off to somewhere else if a firm hand hadn't grabbed the scruff of his coat and hefted him up into the air.

"Untouchable, hmm?" Said a slightly gruff, female voice. Naruto paled as he slowly turned his head and looked up to his captor. She was a bulk of a woman, who had a similar shape as a Hiking Bear. She wore a black, white spotted heavy coat that goes to her knees, brown wool gloves, blue scarf and white boots. Her brown hair was done in a bun as she seemed to be in her late 30s, early 40s, with the most unamused look on her face.

Naruto gulped as he gave a light wave. "Uh…hi there, Marian. How'd ya' find me?"

"The same way I always do. I follow the trail of trouble and screaming. You always seem to be at the end of it." Marian replied as she walked over to the men who were getting back up to their feet. When they all looked to glare at Naruto he just turned his head and pouted. "Now…apologize, Naruto."

"No." He said harshly, crossing his arms. If there was one thing you couldn't make him do, it was apologizing! Marian's eye twitched before giving him a hard shake.

"SAY YOU'RE SORRY!"

"I'M NOT APOLOGIZING! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"

After hearing that the 40-something woman gained a glint in her eye. She gave a smirk and said, "Oh, can't I? If you don't say that you're sorry…then I'm taking away your ramen privileges for an entire month."

Naruto gasped loudly and flailed in her grasp, adopting circular white eyes. "WHAT!? THAT'S NOT FAIR! YOU CAN'T TAKE AWAY RAMEN FROM ME AGAIN! NOT FOR A WHOLE MONTH! I COULDN'T DO IT!"

Marian smirked. "Then apologize. And you have to mean it." She set Naruto on the ground. He glanced up at the angry males while were waiting for their meaningful apology. Naruto sighed, knowing that he was cornered and decided to make this as realistic as he could.

"I'm sorry…for pranking all of you like that. It was a bad thing to do and I promise that I won't do it again. I'm really for real sorry!" He exclaimed with a mopey-childish expression. The males looked to each other before two of them grumbled under their breath and walked away. The one in the middle sighed and rubbed his head.

"You know he's just gonna keep doing this again and again Marian. It doesn't matter what you say or do, but this boy is always going to bring trouble to him in some fashion. I don't think he's ever going to stop with these ridiculous pranks."

Naruto glared at the man, dropping his 'sad' look at stomped his foot. "Hey! You don't-"

"That's enough, Naruto," Marian said, cutting him off. He just grumbled again while she looked at the man once more. "And I apologize for what happened as well. I made the mistake of letting him out of my sight for too long and this happened. So I'm sorry, as well."

The man gave another tired sigh. "You don't need to start apologizing Marian. Fine. Okay. I accept, alright?" He walked off while they heard him muttering to himself. "I need a hot bath with a steaming bowl of soup."

Marian turned her attention back to the young blonde, lightening up her harsh gaze. Naruto looked away again, not able to meet Marian's eyes. "What in the world am I going to do with you, boy? Why do you always feel the need to act up whenever you get the chance?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. Just because." He replied almost instantly, but Marian shook her head.

"I'm not going to believe that for a second. This has been going on for too long now, and it's time for you to stop this." She said in a stern tone, making him flinch. This time he really did have a look of regret on his face and it nearly broke the giant woman's heart to see that look on that bubbly face. Not to mention those whisker marks didn't help at all either. She got down on a knee (Not that it mattered with her height) and placed a gloved hand on his shoulder. "Naruto…I know that you can be pretty difficult. I know that living in a place like this can be difficult too but these pranks are just grating everyone's nerves. They aren't fun anymore and you just seem to make yourself out to be someone the villagers don't want to be around."

Naruto's eyes dropped as his pout returned. When he felt a large hand on his shoulder he looked back to see her with a small smile. "Look, if you manage to stay out of trouble for the rest of the day then I'll let you eat all the ramen you want. Now run off and I expect you back at the orphanage before it gets dark. Alright?"

"Sure." He said a little distastefully before he put his hands in his pockets and walked off. Not feeling the least bit perked up. Marian sighed herself as she stood up from her spot, watching the child walk off. A part of her feeling that she didn't really do much to accomplish anything, especially considering that this had to be the umpteenth time she told Naruto that he had to stop these senseless pranks. She had no idea how to get through to the boy and she was begging to lose what little patience she had left.

"Marian?"

Hearing her name being called, and hearing the crunching of snow behind her, the large woman turned to see her younger sister walking toward her. "Oh. Hello, Maria."

Negikuma Maria has the same build as her older sister, allowing one to mistake her as a Hiking Bear without getting to know her. One could practically call them twins if they made an attempt to look like each other, yet there were still a few distinct differences in appearance. Maria, unlike Marian, had more of a natural and gentle face. Her hair was black instead of brown and instead of it being shaped in a bun, it was in a small afro. Not to mention Maria was 4 years younger than Marian. Her attire consisted of a dark brown coat with brown buttons that cover her whole body. White fur was on the ends of the sleeves, the hood, and the bottom of the coat, along with light brown frills on the chest. In the middle was a dark brown stripe where the upper body separates from the lower body. Finally, she wears a light red scarf and dark brown shoes that have white fur at the top.

Standing next to her big sister, she watched with a sad smile as she saw the blond walk off into the woods just outside of town. "More problems with little Naruto, huh?"

"When aren't there any problems? Maria, I just don't know what to do with him. I mean he was fine when I was raising him in the beginning but he got more and more difficult as time went on. He keeps pulling these pranks, making some of the villagers pull out their hair and he doesn't even like to interact with the other kids all that much. He'll even go so far as to try and distance himself from them." Marian said. Maria, however, gave a small giggle.

"Everyone except that cutie, Hinata. He likes to spend time with her at least."

That made Marian chuckle a little bit. She remembers the day those two officially met. It was 2 years ago when they were both a tender 3 years-of-age, finally ready to be toddlers. Marian took the kids to one of the many hills around town but made sure that it was one of the small ones so the younger ones wouldn't get hurt. In comes, Naruto on a sled that she gave him herself and he practically flew down the slope. Everything seemed all well and good until Naruto crashed into a pile of snow, making the sled get stuck and him flying through the air screaming his head off. Marian and some of the others screamed too, not willing to watch Naruto's inevitable crash but there was a surprised yelp instead. It seemed that a young girl had broken Naruto's fall, making them both land in another bed of snow with the girl's mother giving a cry of shock.

The woman ran over to check on her daughter and Marian ran to check on Naruto. Instead of two badly injured children, Naruto was instead in a laughing fit while Hinata was busy giving a tiny cute, but very noticeable, blush at the male on top of her before Naruto got off and helped her up. The women weren't even given a chance to speak as Naruto already flew into comments and questions. Saying multiple things like 'That was awesome', 'Who are you? I'm Naruto' and 'Do you wanna play?' When she was properly composed she introduced herself as Hinata Hyuuga and gave a nervous 'hello' to the enthusiastic blond.

Coming out from her memories she gave a bigger smile on her slightly more gruff-looking visage. "I'm glad that Naruto has a friend in that girl, at least. Who knows what he'd be like if he didn't have anyone his age to pal around with."

Maria nodded but gave a giggle. "I'm still waiting for the day that those two marry! Oh, I'm going to be so happy for them!"

Marian waved a gloved hand at her gushing little sister. "Please. I know he may be young and all but something tells me that even when he grows up he won't know a thing about romance."

Maria patted Marian's shoulder. "Then I guess it's up to you and me to teach him about it. Who else better than us?"

Marian rolled her eyes. "You mean who else better than you. I plan on staying single, so no way am I going to be any help teaching Naruto anything along those lines. You're more qualified for the job than I am. I only know how to take care of kids the best that I can."

"I can help you! Don't be like that." Maria said with a light laugh. Marian just sighed once more and tried to walk away. Maria, not wanting her sister to take the easy way out, kept her company to talk her to death about all the tips and tricks that a woman needs to give a proper 'talk' to a coming-of-age kid. The whole village could practically hear Marian's groan of discomfort.

As the two sisters went off to do whatever it is they were going to do, Naruto was walking through the woods. It had started to lightly snow just a minute or so back but he didn't pay any mind to it. He'd be more surprised if it didn't snow, being an island that always had the stuff. He honestly hasn't even seen real grass yet, since the environment is too cold and had hardened the soil incredibly. Only in picture books has he seen any normal grass and flowers. The kind that does grow has evolved to be pretty hardy and are mainly herbs used in medicines or cooking. Besides that though, he was still mulling over his 'talk' with Marian. This had to have been the 76th time that she had gotten on his case about pranking people. Of course, he knows the number. He does need to keep track of all of his ideas, after all. Though it seemed on the surface that he was acting out for no reason, he did have a purpose for doing so.

The truth was….he was bored. That's it. No trying to get attention, no being neglected by others…but bored. Bored to near death one would say. Why is he so bored, you ask? Because when you live on a small island, in the same village, surrounded by the same people…life tends to roll by pretty slowly. And not in a good way either. All he ever wished was for something exciting to happen. Something that would blow his mind and actually really knock his socks off. He only pranked nowadays just to give each day a bit of a 'spark' or something along those lines. He's been taken to some of the other villages on Drum before, like Gyasta and those few times to Robelle. But no matter where you go, all in all, it was the same thing. A Winter Wonderland with the only changes being different buildings and different people. Maybe everyone else is accustomed to it but something in his gut always told him that there was more out there in the world, full of nothing but adventure and mayhem.

Naruto wanted to do nothing but experience it. It was a feeling he got in his gut whenever he stared out into the sea. Marian had told him that he was found on a wrecked ship that was a way out from the island and drifted into Drum Island waters. The unnatural weather currents of the Grand Line is what had done the damage to it and left it unmanned, so a rescue party went out to search it. The ship was entirely battered, scarred and had a few dried blood stains in places with just the faint cry of a baby on board in a hidden room under the deck. No one knew the cause for the stains though. Perhaps the ship was being raided by pirates before it got caught in a storm. It was most certainly too massive for any-old pirate attack.

Not to mention that none of the people here were all that interesting themselves. No one to tell grand stories to tell which could keep him on the edge of his seat. No one knew anything about combat, so he couldn't learn any moves from someone in case he needed to know how to fight for some reason. Just normal people, with normal lives, even though this island was also supposed to be a kingdom. Why anyone would want to rule someplace like this he would never know, nor did he really care. He's never seen the king of Drum Island before but people say he's a cool guy, yet his son was an ass.

Back on the subject though, Naruto didn't have that many friends either. Maybe he talked to a few at times but he never really tried to connect with anyone, especially since some of the kids are jerks…except for Hinata of course. They may have met because of an accident but Naruto was glad they did. She was really shy, timid and had kind of a small voice but he liked how nice she was. Lately, he'd sneak out the orphanage to her house and knock on her room window if they haven't seen the other for a while. They'd spend time talking before Naruto had to leave. Of course, he'd either successfully sneak back into his room or he'd be in more trouble than he's worth but he always thought it was worth it.

So when he heard that same girl being cornered by three other kids, kneeling and crying in her hands, Naruto instantly got angry and ran right over to them. He obviously alerted the trio since he was crunching snow as he ran. They turned around to see him charging and couldn't do anything when the blond slugged the slightly taller kid in the middle with a good punch to the face. He yelped in pain as the other two gasped at seeing their friend get hit.

"Hey! Leave Hinata alone you jerks!" Naruto yelled at them, making said girl wipe her face and look at him.

"N-Naruto?" She said relieved, as he stood in front of her. He didn't respond as the other boys finally gained their bearings. The one in the red winter hat and earmuffs that Naruto punched had a swollen cheek and a bloody nose, which dropped a few beads of red onto the snowy ground.

"Agh! Y-you hit me!" The boy said as he stumbled back but had help from his other two friends to keep him balanced.

Naruto gave them a hard stare and held up his fists to them. "That's right! Because you were picking on Hinata and made her cry! So I'm gonna thrash you for it, ya' know!"

"Stupid! Now you're gonna get it!" This time the tallest kid on the left spoke before Naruto charged at them again, just as they ran to him. The three bullies all brought their arms up and got ready to punch the blond but Naruto was faster. He dropped to the ground and allowed the snow to slide him under the legs of the lead kid he attacked. Surprising them the three did their best to stop and not fall forward. Before they could turn to face him, Naruto rammed into the middle kid from behind, pushing him to the ground. He didn't have much time to do anything after that for the largest kid slugged him in his left cheek and sent him to the ground, as well. The tallest kid didn't hesitate either and jumped on the blonde, throwing punch after punch himself. Naruto did his best to cover his face and block as efficiently as he could, but some punches got through anyway. He too was now sporting a bloody nose and a slightly busted lip, but he was still full of adrenaline.

Taking a chance he swung out his right leg as hard as he could and felt satisfied when it made contact. Presumably, with a below the belt shot. The boy cried out and fell to his side, holding his private area while some tears gathered in his eyes because of the pain. Naruto, face bruised and battered, scrambled to his feet and slammed a hard kick to the tallest kids own face. The kid gave a loud scream of pain as he moved his hands from his crotch to his aching face, feeling some blood dripping from his own nose. Naruto wasn't in the clear yet as the leader kid and the fat one were both coming at him with flames in their eyes.

He tried to back up but he hit a tree instead, stopping him from going anywhere. With no way out he decided to duck at the last minute, making them both crash into the tree. Looking up to the fat kid he wanted to get payback from hitting him in the face. A split second decision later and Naruto was gripping his trousers before he gave a very hard yank. The kid gasped as he found his pants immediately around his ankles instead of covering his legs, exposing his white underwear. The lead bully and Hinata gasped at the crude tactic, while a chilly wind blew through. The kid's legs instantly feeling frozen over.

"AHH! WHY'D YOU DO THAT!?" He screamed as he bent down to try and pull them up but Naruto wasn't going to let that happen. With all his strength he pushed the big guy and made him fall over that third kid, who was still on the ground. Naruto then proceeded to kick him while he was down as well. Since he had more meat on his bones then the lanky, tall one he really laid into him with the footwork. But he made the mistake of turning his back on the lead kid. He was reminded when he felt another fist colliding with the back of his head that sent him to the snow-covered floor. Groaning in pain, he tried to get up but was hit once again. This time on the right cheek. That was all he could take before he was laid out, not able to move. Though he was still conscious, not willing to let himself pass out while Hinata was still around these jerks.

Taking deep breaths and wiping the blood from his nose, the lead kid said, "And that's what you get, shrimp! Trying to be a hero and everything! And because of some ugly eyed girl-monster!?"

Naruto's head shot up in anger. He ground his teeth as he gave the fiercest glare he could muster. The bully's two friends finally being able to get their bearings as they got back up from their own little mishaps. Though they were both still in obvious pain. The big one was walking with a limp from Naruto kicking him multiple times in the leg and side. The tall one still had blood running from his nose and a swollen eye. He was holding his stomach because of the attack that was made where no sun shines. "You take that back! Hinata isn't a monster! She's nice! And she's cool too!"

"No! I won't take it back! And she must really be awful if she's hanging around someone like you, shorty!" He walked over to the defenseless blond and kicked him hard in the ribs. Naruto gave a shout of pain as he held them while turning to his side.

"N-Naruto!" Hinata cried, as she began to shed tears again. Luckily that was the only hit that the kid wanted to get in before he took Naruto's scarf. He ran over to his friends, stretching it out as they got the idea. They proceeded to pull, stomp and rip away at the thick piece of cloth until it was a shambled mess.

"You think you're so cool. Wearing this stupid, ugly scarf." He mocked before they walked off of it. After a minute or so they had left an injured Naruto and crying Hinata by themselves. Naruto groaned as he stared up at the dull sky, snowflakes lightly falling on his wounds and swollen face. The cold made them both ache and dull the pain at the same time.

Hinata immediately got up and ran over to Naruto's side. "Naruto! You're hurt!"

The blond shifted his eyes over to her and managed to sit up. He winced a little from the soreness as he rubbed his face. "Don't worry, I'm alright." He said in a glum tone. Hinata's eyes began to tear up again as she felt Naruto's face or herself. She felt him visibly jerk as he sucked in air through his teeth from the pain.

"But…but look at you! Your face is swollen and you're bleeding." Before her tears could fall she herd Naruto grumble before wiping the corners of her eyes. She was met with a very bright smile, which he usually only shows to her on a daily basis. That same smile that made Hinata blush a tiny bit as her face became heated.

"I told you, I'll be okay. I mean did you see me? It was 3 on 1 and I still managed to fight them all off. If I was taller and stronger then I could'a sent them running with no problem, ya' know!" He managed to get back up to his feet with Hinata doing the same. "But are you okay? What did they do to make you cry like that? I mean…what that jerk said about you…"

Hinata's eyes shifted downward as her mood dropped as she nodded, "T-they…they were…making fun of me. They said…that my eyes are w-weird and I looked l-like a monster." She sniffed sadly. This time doing her best to not cry since Naruto wasn't going to her allow her the liberty to do so. Though his anger was coming back quickly with the only thing stopping him from chasing down those guys again is comforting his friend. Before she knew it he had pulled her into a tight hug. Her sad mood being replaced by a surprised one while she gasped.

"No way! You aren't a monster. Like I said, you're cool. And…and nice and everything. So forget them." He pulled away from her, as he smirked. He rose a fist to his battered face. "And if they talk about you like that again then I'll just have to beat 'em down even harder than I did today! Believe it!"

Hinata felt her blush becoming more prominent as Naruto told her nothing but compliments. She smiled at how positive he always was with her or how he's always defending her if he can help it. And with how he came to her rescue just now, she felt as if she could just melt from the happiness. Of course, she did still feel bad that he had gotten pretty hurt from those other boys but he didn't seem to care in the slightest. His only concern was for her. She didn't understand it but that made something in her chest flutter. It was an unusual feeling that she didn't understand but she knew that it was not a bad one. Her eyes drifted over to Naruto's scarf, very tattered and ruined to the point that it can't be properly worn anymore. She walked over to retrieve it before walking back over.

"Um…your scarf. It's…" She said in a meek tone but Naruto placed his hands in his pockets.

"Ahh, so what? It's just a scarf. I can get another one."

Hinata looked down at it, slowly rubbing her mitten-covered hand through it. "But…but Ms. Marian got this for you."

Naruto grinned a little with a shrug. "I know. She can just get me another one. Maybe if she made it I'd care for it a lot more. You can keep it, Hinata."

Hinata opened her white eyes a bit more. "Are you sure? You want me to have it?"

The blonde just grinned wider, making his bruises a bit more prominent. "Why not? Think of it as a keepsake from me. Anyway…I was going to walk around the woods for a little bit. I'll see you back home, okay?" Hinata just gave a slight nod, to which Naruto smiled at. He then began to run off into the vast whiteness and the thicket of trees. Hinata watched him leave until she couldn't see him anymore. Holding his scarf close to her chest she gave a big smile before she made her back to her house as well. No doubt about to tell her parents about what had just transpired here.

A while after he left Naruto was found sitting on a fallen log, surrounded by a few trees. He was holding snow to his face, trying to dull the throbbing that he still felt. "Jeez. I hate those guys. Next time I see them I'm going to beat them up even more, even if they haven't been picking on Hinata." He sighed to himself. "And I just know Marian is gonna yell at me about fighting…again. I hope she doesn't take away the ramen she promised me."

Opening his eyes he stared at the ground for a minute or so. Not finding anything particular to focus on his cerulean orbs began to wander around the landscape, trying to find something of interest. He didn't get his hopes up since nothing ever changed in the scenery on this island. White snow, thick trees, Hiking Bears, and a round white and pink object that was…wait, a what?

"Huh? What's that thing?" Interest finally peaked, Naruto got up from his place and walked to the object. He bent down to pick up it getting a better look at it. His blue eyes lit up in wonder as he was holding what appeared to be some kind of fruit. It was snow-white, nearly camouflaged in the snow. Though what made it stand out were those pink markings all over it. Actually, they were pink triangles, which dotted the surface. Finally, there was a healthy green stem to literally top it off. "Whoa! A fruit! Where'd this come from!? And…how come it looks so weird?"

He turned the fruit around in his hands but besides its odd look, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary with it. Besides, it was incredibly rare to even get fruit on this island. It's not exactly the most tropical of places so this was sure one interesting find. Naruto's stomach gave a low rumble meaning the obvious. He grinned. "Well I don't know how it got here but I sure do know what I'm gonna do with it! It looks weird but I bet it taste's awesome!"

He needed no other incentive before he opened wide and took out a massive chunk of the fruit. Its contents a ripe pink on the inside, just like the triangles on the skin. The juice dripped from it and Naruto's mouth as he chewed it happily…for about a couple of seconds. After those seconds were up his demeanor changed. His face had turned blue as he fought to not try and throw-up while his eyes went comically wide. It appeared that the fruit tasted worse than it looked. Disgusting!

If Naruto had to put it into any possible words, it would be like a mixture of trash, moldy cheese, rotten milk and Hiking Bear poop! Yes, it was that awful. The rest of it dropped from Naruto's hand into the snow as he forced himself to swallow what he already ate. After a few more traumatic 5 seconds he fell to the ground and grasped out his throat, hacking and coughing. "BLECH! What the heck was that!? Ugh! That was the nastiest fruit I ever ate! No way am I going to eat weird fruits ever again!"

Sitting back up, he glared at the fruit for giving him probably even a worse experience than those bullies a while back. He was about to get up and return the favor with the strongest kick he could muster…though he had to deal with this itchy sensation that he was feeling. Growling low in discomfort he scratched at his arm pretty hard, already uncomfortable with the how his skin was stinging. But then it didn't just stop there. That itchy feeling moved through his body entirely until it became unbearable. His body shook as he hugged himself tight, not feeling too well.

"Ack! W-what was…in that…" he couldn't even properly speak anymore. The itching became burning, and soon the burning felt like it was pushing outward. Naruto could feel his entire body was beginning to shift and change around. He gasped as he realized that white hair began to quickly grow from his uncovered hands, with slightly sharpened nails. Hastily taking off his jacket and saw the same happening to his arms and chest. The fur grew on his face, which also started to become a bit more elongated. Mainly in the nose area. His whisker marks actually stretched off his face and became real. He felt his teeth changing structure. His two front teeth grew to some pretty large incisors that looked as if they could bite through bark effortlessly. His other teeth grew as sharp as canines which could rend flesh if they had too. His blond hair shrunk away and was replaced by a mat of white as well. His ears seemed to move from the side of his head to the top before they continued to grow and grow until they were each a foot tall. The right ear having a circular notch in the side going to the middle of it. Panicking, he removed his boots as well, watching as his feet became a bit bigger. They also grew to rabbit-like feet, instead of human-shaped like his hands. They became long, flexible, strong and had pink pads below the toes. Finally, felling an uncomfortable tug at his backside accompanied by a small rip, he turned to find that he had a short, fluffy tail which swished from side to side.

Naruto sprung to his feet and looked over to new, furry form. He started inhaling and exhaling deeply as his breath began to quicken. His body was still shaking but not from any more shifts in his look, now from complete terror and shock.

"Wha….wha…WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!? WHAT HAPPENED TO ME!? WHAT-WHAT IS-WHY AM-WHY AM I…" He couldn't form a complete sentence without his words stopping in his throat. A breeze blew through once again, but since he was sporting a very thick and resilient coat of fur he didn't even feel it. Not even on his exposed hind-paw pads. He slowly glanced over to the magical fruit that seemed to have done this time him, which seemed to have been slowly losing its color and looked a bit shriveled.

"I gotta get help!" With that in mind, he ran as fast as he could back to the village. In his swirling emotions he didn't even notice that he was running at about 3 times the speed he was capable of before, while his light feet traversed over the snow like it was solid. It was just a little over a minute before he was running towards the entrance of Bighorn. He didn't pay any mind to all of the people, not even thinking about how they'd react to his new look. But he felt that if he could just find either Marian, Hinata or…any of the tiny amount of people he was close to and explain whatever the hell was going on than they could find some way to fix this. Someone had to know how to fix this!

"Hello!? Marian!? Hinata!? Ms. Maria!? Anyone!?" He cried out as he crossed into town. Because of his earlier yelling and his abrupt appearance and the center of Bighorn his immediately caught the attention of everyone present. Naruto was looking around at the people frantically, not liking how they were giving the reactions they gave. Some weak-willed ones gave shouts of fear as they backed away from him. Others gave whispers to each other but Naruto's incredibly sensitive ears could pick up on every word. "Hey! Will someone just listen to me!?"

"Oh God, it talked!"

"What kind of Laphan can do that!?"

"And why is it wearing clothes of all things?"

"Wait, are they starting to become smarter!?"

"You mean that they've been spying on different villages or something? No way! Laphan's are just fat, vicious rabbits. They can't do this…can they!?"

random man pointed a gloved hand to Naruto, looking at another random male. "Well, the proof is right there! And if this one is that smart then…are they going to run everyone in all the villages out of our homes!?"

A mother pulled her son closer to her, not liking how he was getting closer to Naruto. "Honey, get away from that thing!"

Naruto's cerulean eyes were beginning to glisten with water. He didn't like how everyone was making it seem as if he was some-kind freakish Laphan who came to hurt them. He tried to walk over to a man, but he had grabbed a woodcutter's ax and held it at the ready. Naruto flinched back at the sight of the much-sharpened weapon.

"P-please. I just…" he looked around to everyone as he took a few steps back, "I need…I need help. Please!"

His ears picked up something being thrown at him while his new reflexes allowed him to dodge the rock by tilting his head. He looked to see that the one who threw it was one of the kids that he had fought earlier, with his little posse with him. "We don't wanna help some kinda freak like you! You weirdo, monster, Laphan thing! Go away!" He picked up more rocks and began to throw them but Naruto kept dodging them with ease, realizing that he no longer felt sore. All of his wounds had to have vanished when he transformed. But that didn't stop the pain that was beginning to form in his chest and just got bigger. Now his friends were throwing rocks at him and he felt anger begin to well up at them once more.

He fully turned to them and caught a rock that was aiming at his face. Without effort he crushed it into dust with a crack, making the kids flinch. "I will beat you down if you keep messing with me! I've had it with you losers!" With a snarl he took a few steps towards them, making the boys scream in fear, drop the rocks they held and fell to their butts. Naruto only took three slow steps before a flinched back as a bang was heard and the snow beside him, exploded. He turned around to see that a villager was pointing a smoking rifle at him, while some of the others had gone into their houses and came back out with more. Now his own fear came back in full force. His arms were raised to show that he meant no harm but the villagers didn't seem to believe that anymore. Dammit! Why did he have to go and lose his temper like that!? Now any hope he had of Bighorn's populations listening to him very incredibly nonexistent!

"Get the hell out of Bighorn! Leave us alone or else I'm not gonna miss next time!"

"Yeah! Get a move on!"

"We don't want trouble but you'll find some if you don't know what's good for you!"

 _'No. No. No, no, no, no, NO! This can't be happening!'_ Naruto thought frantically as he backed up some more. Gazing around, he saw that nobody was on his side. Marian was looking at him with a hatred he's never seen before with her sister right next to her. Weapons were poised and kids were frightened. Yet in the corner of his eyes, he turned his head to the right to see that Hinata was standing off to the side with her parents in front of her. She was looking behind her father's leg, with his old scarf in her hands. They both gazed deeply into each other's eyes for a while, the young Hyuuga seeing something incredibly familiar in the rabbit-boy's features. 'Hinata…at least YOU have to know it's me! We're best friends!'

The moment he thought that he saw her white eyes light up in recognition and disbelief. His heart jumped at the thought of her figuring it out. He didn't know how, but when he saw her mouth move he felt a speck of elation that almost outweighed the pain. He could make out her saying his name. It wasn't audible but his sharper eyes just knew that she did!

 _'N-Naruto!?'_

He gave a bit of a happy smile as he slowly raised his hand in her direction but the next gunshot shot at the barrel beside him. He jumped back entirely with his powerful legs before he gave one last look…and ran. He ran and ran and ran. Faster and harder than he did when he arrived. It helped him a tad bit to know that Hinata had realized it was him…but everyone else? Not a chance. Not even remotely. He had no home anymore and he didn't know how to change back! Meaning that if Bighorn ran him out then all of the other villages will too. He had nowhere to stay but in the forests with the ACTUAL Laphan's. How could they even think that!? He was obviously too different to be one! And there is no way that they could be as smart as him! Or wear clothes! Or even be as skinny as he is!

"IT'S NOT FAIR AT ALL!" He screamed out to the air, arriving back at his previous location. The fallen log with his discarded boots and jacket and the fruit was entirely shriveled up now. Great. There goes any kind of proof he had about turning into…this. This rabbit…thing. He couldn't find any strength to keep himself on his feet anymore. Trudging over to the log he plopped down onto it, bringing his knees to his chest. "It's not…not fair. Why is this…happening?"

The emotions swelled up more and more until he couldn't help but let them all out. His head fell as the tears followed suit, running down his face. He was just so confused, angry and sad at the same time. But most of all, he was lost. He had no home and he had no friends entirely. He couldn't even see Hinata anymore and for some reason, that alone struck a chord in him so hard in him that he shed many tears on that fact alone. Gone with the warm bed. Gone with the hot meals. Gone with having fun with his pranks or even the possible future companions.

He was alone. And it seemed as if he was going to stay that way.

For a long time, he didn't move from that spot at all. The sun was setting and he had no place to stay. Well, he apparently couldn't get cold anymore, since normally staying outside for so long without much to keep warm with could give someone frostbite. The only articles of clothing he still wore being his heavy pants and a thick sweater with a shirt underneath. His boots and heavy coat were nearly piled under the falling snow, which was falling even harder, while he was still scarf-less. Naruto had to have been outside for an hour or so but nothing changed. He felt cozy and warm in his thick but lean fur. Maybe a victory against the weather but everything else? Yeah, not working so well. He stopped crying a while ago, having run out of tears and was just lying back on the log.

 _'I should probably go look for some shelter. Maybe some kind of cave to hide in. I can't stay outside forever.'_ He thought though he didn't feel motivated enough to lift himself up. Of course when his large ears twitched at something approaching his location he gasped, shooting up quicker than he thought he would. His right ear twitched by its lonesome this time, alerting him to where the footsteps were coming from. Not only did he hear them over the wind his heightened senses allowed him to differentiate between the two of them. One set sounded like a pair of heavy boots, crunching the deep snow beneath them. There was also the sound of shuffling heavy clothes behind them. The other pair of steps was a lot softer and lighter, which gave slight clopping noises. Hooves, he had to guess.

After he picked up their sounds, he picked up their scent afterward. The first one with the boots was obviously a man that seemed to be in his middle ages. The other was…unusual. The scent of an animal came in first. A reindeer, no doubt. He's seen a couple of them over the years to know what one smelled like, even before he had changed. But at the same time, this reindeer scent…was also mixed with a…human one? If his eyes were capable of getting any wider then they'd probably pop out of his head. This scent…was just like him! A mix of human and animal!

"Is this person…the same as me!?" He said to himself, unknown sources of elation emanating from him. In the back of his mind, he could also smell medicine and herbs on their persons. Doctors? He got up from the log entirely and turned to face the newcomers when they came within eye-shot. It was only a few seconds after that they were both right in front of him. He rose what would've been an eyebrow if he…had any in this form. The obvious man of the two was a pretty tall fellow. He had a lean figure, strange crossed shaped hair hidden beneath a top hat and carried a doctors medical bag. The other figure was about the size of a small child. Smaller than Naruto by about 2 feet, which actually made him feel better about his own height. He was always called a runt by others for being a bit shorter than the average 5-year-old. He could practically hear Marian nagging about eating his vegetables. Anyway, the little one was a reindeer apparently, but it could stand on its hind legs, had a blue nose and wore his own top hat. It was colored pink with a big white X in the middle.

The three stared at each other for minutes on end, not knowing what to say at their recent discoveries of one another. The reindeer went to hide behind the leg of the man, but half of his whole body was sticking out. Naruto blinked in confusion at the weird action but didn't address it. Seeing that just looking at them wasn't going anywhere he decided to speak first. "Um…w-who are you guys?"

The reindeer gave a loud gasp of shock and had a frightful look on his face. "AHH! A TALKING RABBIT!"

Naruto's own shock came back, making him jerk backward. He landed on his rear-end and pointed at the smaller animal. "HOLY CRAP! A TALKING REINDEER THING!"

In an instant, the man got between the both of them. He placed a hand on the reindeer's hat while holding his other one out to Naruto. "Now, now, Chopper. You both need to calm down. You're getting worked up over nothing." When the man looked to Naruto with a wide smile the rabbit boy calmed down on the spot. He never expected to get such a nice reaction from someone he's never even met. It was much better than being shot at by his former villagers. "Now, I believe that introductions are in order, hmm? My name is Dr. Hiluluk. This little guy is my faithful assistant and adopted son, Tony Tony Chopper. Might I ask who you are, young man?"

Naruto was a little reluctant to speak at first not knowing if he could fully trust this man. But his instincts were on high alert and this Hiluluk person sounded sincere enough to be a nice man. Swallowing nervously, he responded. "I…my names Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

Smiling, Hiluluk removed his hand from Chopper's hat and slowly got closer to Naruto. Not to startle the boy he sat down a few feet in front of him, his smile still present. "Naruto, hmm? What a nice name. Though I'm wondering why you're out here all by yourself. I can tell that something had to have happened but I'd like the details from you. Besides, it's my job as a doctor to take care of ailments."

Naruto was a little bit reluctant but, seeing at the moment that he literally had nothing else to lose he began to speak of how his life has been up to now. How he was found as a baby on a wrecked ship and was an orphan for 5 years. How he had never felt truly at home in Bighorn and began to play pranks when his 5th birthday came around, for a bit of excitement. How he made a single true friend in Hinata and saved her from bullies earlier. Finally, how he had eaten this weird fruit that turned him into a rabbit before he was chased out of Bighorn for trying to get help over the situation. Naruto was holding back a few stray tears, not wanting to get deep into the current memories. Hiluluk just kept nodding in understanding while Chopper looked at Naruto in wonder.

"He's…he's just like me." He whispered, remembering how eating a Devil Fruit had him being chased out of his hearing. Unknown to him, Naruto's ears easily picked up on the words making the former blond gasp on the inside and glance to Chopper. Hiluluk had gently placed a hand on Naruto's ears and rubbed his head. With his other arm, he wrapped Naruto into a hug, bringing the boy to his lap. He rubbed his head lightly and spoke.

"Chopper." He said, without looking back.

Chopper took a few steps forward, standing next to them. "Um…yes, Dr.?"

Hiluluk did turn his head this time and gave a very bright smile. "I believe that from this day on…you're about to become an older brother!" He said with enthusiasm. Both Zoan users widened their eyes at the declaration, while the Dr. looked down to Naruto. "Do you like the sound of that Naruto? To be a part of our family? I promise that we don't care if you're a human, rabbit or whatever you are. You're still a perfectly normal boy in my eyes. I don't have a lot…but a home is something I can most definitely give you. I'd be happy if you said 'yes' and I think Chopper would like to have someone around his age, who's like him, to play with."

"A…a home? Y-you really mean I…" Naruto practically couldn't even comprehend what he had just heard. He never thought he'd have a true home before. No one in Bighorn was definitely going to adopt him and it would've been too much of a hassle to look for one anywhere else on the island. After becoming a rabbit-person, just being in a human village was entirely impossible. No one would be able to stand the sight of him…but this random stranger just…came from nowhere…and with such ease, invited him! To have him as family! Naruto couldn't help when he reached arms around Chopper and Hiluluk, bringing them into very tight hugs. He let out the tears he's been holding back, but this time they were ones of joy. The other two were a bit alarmed at the reaction but quickly returned the gesture, Chopper knowing exactly what Naruto was going through. And being a sentimental one, he couldn't help but cry right alongside his taller but younger adopted brother. His brother, who was slowly beginning to revert back to his human appearance without his knowledge but wouldn't have cared if he did.

Timeskip

Seven years. It had been a grand total of seven long years since Naruto had been kicked from Bighorn. Since he became half-rabbit because of the Devil Fruit that he had consumed. Apparently, it was called the 'Hop-Hop Fruit Model: Snowshoe Hare' from what he read in a copy of some sort of Devil Fruit Encyclopedia Hiluluk had… 'acquired' from a supply caravan of King Wapol's. A rare type of Zoan Fruit, even among its kind, like Chopper's Human-Human Fruit. Their powers allowing them to become 'Perfect Hybrids' to the animal that the fruit possessed instead of their hybrid forms being part animal and part human. Though if Naruto had to guess, when Chopper took his 'Heavy Point' it'd probably be the reverse, being an actual animal 'man'.

In those years so many things had changed his life. Changed in ways that both helped and hurt to such extremes they were defining points in his character compared to the boy who used to pull pranks or was pretty anti-social. It had only been two years after Naruto was adopted by Hiluluk and those were some of the happiest memories of his life. Okay, so while the man claimed he was a doctor is apparently wasn't his forte. He's had rounds of patients who didn't really appreciate a doctor who couldn't do what he was supposed to. But if anything, the man could work wonders on someone's heart. To him, and even to Naruto, that's where the real healing counted at most times. Anyone can heal a wound but it takes true skill to heal a spirit. Naruto would know, since its how Hiluluk made him feel so welcome and never anything else.

Chopper also filled out his role as the best big brother he could possibly be. Not only did they connect near-instantly once they were able to properly speak or do activities with each when they had the chance. They were entirely inseparable and liked to do nearly everything together. If one was somewhere then the other was probably just a few feet behind. Chopper was honestly really happy that he had someone his age too, not only play with but who perfectly understood what he was going through about being an outcast. Chopper even taught Naruto how to properly shift back and forth between his human and rabbit form. That was when they discovered that Naruto had no 'full beast' rabbit form. Good thing too, since Chopper wouldn't feel comfortable about his younger brother becoming something akin to a Laphan and prank him.

But even if he could, Naruto would never do anything that mean to his brother. Even if it would've seemed pretty harmless he still doesn't appreciate when those he cares about are hurt, tormented, sad or scared. And the last thing he would want to do is give Chopper a heart attack. Hiluluk even got them both interested in becoming doctors themselves, as well as the idea of pirates. Even with the new king Wapol (who had risen to the throne only a few short months after Naruto's adoption) as the terrible tyrant he was, Naruto appreciated every little moment.

Though on most other occasions he would even sneak down to Bighorn in the dead of night to Hinata's house. He'd always lightly knock at her window until she woke up to see him. She was a bit startled at first about her secret puppy crush having been turned into a rabbit, but she understood a bit more after Naruto explained it was because of a Devil Fruit. Something she's heard her father speak of and go into detail about when she asked him about it. So at least 2 to 3 days every week Naruto would sprint down in the dead of night to come and visit his only friend in Bighorn, and they both loved the other's company. He told her about how he had become adopted by an amazing man, and even had a brother who had powers like him. How he was training to become a doctor and maybe even a pirate one day. She always loved how he had new tales to tell and listened intently. The more he went to visit, the longer they usually talked, even if it was about nothing. They just missed the other's company from being away from the other for an entire month until Naruto had the idea to visit her for the first time.

But not everything could stay nice and happy forever. Tragedy reared its ugly head when Hiluluk became ill from a deadly disease that he had no knowledge to cure. So, despite not wanting too, he had driven Chopper and Naruto from his home, not wanting his two sons to see him in such a state and then inevitably die. But that didn't stop either of them from trying to help their father. Remembering a special mushroom that could cure any sickness from one of the doctor's medical books the two boys went and searched for it. The journey was a harsh one and got even worse when they encountered Chopper's previous herd of reindeer. They didn't appreciate their outcast returning along with one who was just like him…so they attacked. Chopper and Naruto barely got out of there alive but not before getting the mushroom. After shedding many tears from reuniting with one another, and with them disclosing their journey along with the mushroom to Hiluluk, he took it without hesitation. He left right after saying that he had errands to run.

But even their good intentions came at a very high cost. They were visited by Dr. Kureha afterward. A 133-year-old woman who were a complete master in the field of medicine, unlike their father. When they told her of how they had given the mushroom they found to save Hiluluk, she shot them down instantly. Apparently, that mushroom was no cure…but a poison. A very potent and highly toxic one that was supposed to kill the recipient within a day after it was consumed. The symbol that Chopper saw beside the picture in the book may have looked like a Jolly Roger but in actuality, it meant that the ingredient was deadly. Shedding tears of sadness and regret they ran off to find him before worst came to worst. They had tracked to him Wapol's castle, where the evil king lured him there on the grounds that the 20 doctors he had were also stricken with a disease. Of course, it was a trap to bring the last two doctors in Drum to him without any effort. Hiluluk wouldn't let Wapol execute him but he also didn't want his boys to feel an immense wave of guilt from having unknowingly poisoned him. Either way, he was going to die soon so he chose option 3. He drunk one of his own failed potions and died with a content smile on his face on the spot, saving his boys in his own and final way one last time.

That didn't stop their sadness from reaching a high point, bringing them to tears. But it was instantly replaced by rage when Wapol began to laugh at the doctor's last act. The boys went on a rampage, Chopper going into his Heavy Point to do damage. Naruto, obviously about to go raving rabbit on anyone he deemed as an enemy. But Dalton stopped them. Dalton was one of Wapol's guards who actually cared about the people on the island, who was also a Zoan Devil Fruit user. Holding them both down, Dalton begged for their forgiveness while pleading for them both to leave before Wapol ordered his men to kill them both. It took everything they had to overcome their rage and not fight back but they knew that they seriously had no chance against a whole army. Not to mention they all had weapons while the boys didn't. So they left. They left and mourned the doctor's tragic passing, which they bore witness to. Instead of grieving forever, they went to Kureha instead. They both pleaded for her to teach them both everything that she knew about the medical arts so that they could properly honor Hiluluk's memory. Kureha was reluctant at first, but she also had to honor Hiluluk's last words to her, to teach the animal boys to be proper doctors if he couldn't do the job. So she accepted and took them as her students.

The five years after that was pretty rough for the two boys. Kureha didn't take any kind of excuses no matter how difficult the task. All she ever asked for them was to put their all into whatever they did. Good thing that the boys had a ton of motivation and then some to strive for nothing but the best results in their studies. If anything, they were nearly as skilled as the elder doctor herself. Yet a few months afterward a pirate called Blackbeard along with four other men raided Drum Island. They were so fierce and powerful that Wapol had taken most of his forces and left the island himself. Never saying when he was returning but everyone was hoping that it was forever. With his castle unguarded, Kureha had seen it as an opportunity for her and the boys to move in. At a time, they would come down to each of the villages on Drum to treat the sick (With the doctrine declaring of obscene amounts of payment) before heading back up to the castle, waiting for Wapol's imminent return.

Yet the boys had done more than just training to be experts in the fields of medicine. They were also incredibly adept in the field of combat as well. It was mainly because of Naruto's hatred at himself for feeling so weak and useless at not being able to do anything against Wapol. Sure, Dalton stopped them but it was obvious they would've been slaughtered if they had attacked. So Naruto suggested that he and Chopper also train physically just as much as they trained mentally. Each and every day after Kureha was done giving them lessons they would use whatever means to help their battle instincts and combat prowess grow. A workout consisting of 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats every single day, would then be ended with a series of laps around the very large castle. Sometimes, Naruto would do these exercises in his normal body, with his logic being that if he could get his natural body to a stronger point then his rabbit powers would also increase in strength naturally.

They would occasionally spar against one another, with Chopper using his available combat-oriented 'Points' and Naruto fighting in his rabbit form. Neither of them held back because they knew that an enemy would fight with everything they had to win. Other times they would battle the occasional Laphan, whether they be in groups or not. Kureha stopped scolding them after they had done this more than a few times. She believed that if the boys were that determined to die then she wouldn't stop them but she'd be more and more impressed each and every time they came back. A year later, Chopper had the ingenuity to invent the Rumble Ball. A special drug that would allow him and Naruto to bring out latent powers of their Devil Fruits. It gave Chopper new 'Points' and allowed Naruto access to his own set as well, yet the rabbit was still more for fighting than Chopper's was. So Naruto helped Chopper to learn to use all of his current and newer 'Point's in combat scenarios, while he tried to get a hang of using his own.

But that fateful day came…when Chopper accidentally went too far. While the Ruble Ball was a very special and powerful drug that boosted their potential they can't be taken one after the other. Once one has been eaten a second can't be taken for 7 hours, or else the new powers would spring out randomly, not giving Chopper or Naruto the abilities they wanted. Chopper was too curious and took a third one which transformed him into his 'Monster Point'. It was only through sheer luck that he didn't rampage on any of the villages, destroy anything or hurt Kureha and Naruto. When he came to after passing out from the experience (Which also left his body too weak to move) Kureha made him promise to never become a monster like that again. While Chopper promised her that he wouldn't they didn't factor in the white-furred eavesdropper who heard every single word, an entire room and hallway away. What Kureha saw as a mistake, Naruto believed it to be an opportunity for his big brother to have a trump card up his sleeve in case he needed it. When he presented the idea to Chopper to learn how to train his Monster Point in secret, the reindeer rejected the idea initially. He may not have remembered what he had done in that form but he was beyond worried for him once Kureha described what he was like. Nothing but a beast.

So Naruto pestered him each and every day until he relented on the second week after the incident. Without Kureha's knowledge, the boys would sneak off in the dead of night, to the most secluded of areas around the woods where Chopper wouldn't disturb or frighten anyone. It was a tough thing to do, having to get far away enough from the castle, the villages or surrounding animals than having to come back with Chopper practically immobile so Naruto would have to carry him and speed run back home, but they made it work. In between these secret outings, Naruto also figured that if they were going to help Chopper get control of 'Monster Point' then he should learn to be more versatile with his newer ones that required the Rumble Ball. Naruto didn't feel that he needed to do much of the same since his rabbit form was naturally a lot stronger, faster and more fluent than Chopper was. So all of this was to help his brother catch up, so to speak.

After the next two full years of the continuous training and transformations (With Naruto trying to get Monster Chopper under control by shouting things that sounded familiar, no matter how vague, and avoiding the attacks sent his way) Chopper has actually mastered the ability. He was perfectly coherent when he transformed now and wasn't physically exhausted when he returned to normal. Though he could only be in 'Monster Point' for 3 minutes that seemed like enough time to do some major damage to any opponent. In regards to Chopper's new powers, he no longer required a Rumble Ball to access them and even learned how to use them all in combat. Now he only needed a single Rumble Ball and that was to transform into Monster Point. Though even with all of, Chopper's new abilities that didn't mean that Naruto was left behind at all. In fact, he only seemed to excel at the same pace if not higher in his abilities. While he hasn't mastered his 'Point' abilities to the same degree as Chopper, he felt more at ease fighting with his own skills. At times he would take on hordes of Laphan at a time by himself, instead of with Chopper. Now he could fight an army of them without so much as batting an eye.

He worked on honing his 5 senses even more than what his natural abilities allowed. He would sometimes roam the castle or the woods with a blindfold on, only using his hearing, smell, sense of touch (Including his whiskers), and taste to get "visuals" of where to go and how to get there. This fine-tuned his perception to a razor-sharp point like none would've believed. His physical training got more and more intense depending on how strong his muscles became. So he had to get creative. Instead of the workout that he and Chopper have been doing for five years straight, Naruto would now do twice the amount. It got to a point where he couldn't even stay in the castle to train most of the time. Sometimes he would break a tree down and attempt to bench press it. Even with the enhanced strength from training and from being a rabbit, he could only ever do 50 of them in a row. 100 if he used his legs. Large trees are large trees, no matter how you slice it. Though, he being able to do that was impressive enough. Along with strength came flexibility and agility training, by bounding through the treetops and any other obstacles in the snowy, dense foliage.

He had learned to incorporate these new developments into his unpredictable, lighting fast yet powerful fighting style. Kureha decided to help him out in his struggle to obtain strength herself in the only way she knew how. It was in Robelle when she had asked for two sets of 100-pound dumbbells from a large man who requested her medical assistance. While it was mainly for Naruto she knew that Chopper still liked to train with his rabbit brother when he got the chance to.

Chopper needed to be in his Heavy Point to get a proper workout with the dumbbells, yet having the same thinking as Naruto, if he could keep increasing his base arm strength then his Arm Point would be much more effective in combat. Though Naruto didn't use them on his arms…but his ears. Yes, he was trying to build up power in his long ears. While it sounds comical it's actually a very dangerous thing to consider. Getting smacked by one of Naruto's ears before would feel akin to a wet towel slapping you in the face. Not a pretty experience. Yet it's even more gruesome if the muscles in them were getting just as much development as the rest of his body. So Naruto would just sit in an Indian-style position, his face contorted into a strain with sweat dripping down his face. His ears hung to the sides as the ends were wrapped around the dumbbells lifting the lumps of iron with all of their might until they felt as if they were going to be ripped out of his head. It is safe to say that he could put an indent in solid concrete nowadays, or knock someone out cold. He experimented with a random Laphan when he was attacked by one. They seemed to have made it their personal mission to get him or Chopper whenever the chance presented themselves but their luck has been running dry with the passing of each year.

Finally, as an added bonus for Naruto staying in tune with his animal side for so long, his brain developed to where he can understand animals just as well as people. Chopper could do so automatically since he was a reindeer first and human second. Naruto was the reverse so his brain had to "work" to properly understand the new and very unusual speech patterns animals spoke. A growl could be a sentence, a snort could be a comment or single word, etc. Naruto found this little "secret power" to be handy in its own little way, since any animals that weren't vicious or easily frightened had been able to direct him and Chopper to the locations of several medicinal herb locations. Sure, he could pinpoint the location with his sense of smell but it was a tough job if the snow was heavy or if the herb was buried in an area full of nothing but the stuff. At other times he and Chopper would even have small talk with some, just to pass the time.

All in all, Naruto's life after the death of his father has been nothing but entirely productive. He now felt very confident in his and his big brother's abilities, both as doctors and as fighters. Though they don't go looking for fights, (Since they can curb stomp Laphan these days) they mostly just continue to practice everything they've been taught or self-taught. Naruto still made sure he could make time to visit Hinata in Bighorn, which the lavender-haired girl was very happy about. She was still there to comfort him through any of the tough times that he felt that he was going through and on some rare occasions he would sleep in her room. The idea of it made her blush deeply but it was never with him in the bed. She always had a spare sleeping bag and pillow in her closet for him to use. He only ever slept in his human form, not wanting him to get any fur on it. He would then wake up early while she was still sleeping so that he wouldn't get caught by her parents (Or little sister Hanabi. Something else she told Naruto about years back). He would roll up the sleeping bag, put it in her closet, shift back to rabbit mode and leave out the window while closing it; vanishing into the whiteness.

On other matters, Naruto was currently in his rabbit body, which he is close to always was in these days. Both to follow in Chopper's footsteps, and because the cold did nothing to get through fur that warm. At 12 years old he stood a little bit over the height of others his age, without counting the ears. The main reason why is because of all of the vegetables he's prone to eating. Especially carrots; his rabbit side practically craves the stuff. He even had an entirely different change of wardrobe. Naruto was sporting a plain but sleek black jumpsuit with matching boots. He had brown work gloves covering his hands, a belt around his waist which carried his compact medical bag, and a cozy orange scarf around his neck with white X's on it. He was alone at the moment, wandering around the woods at the base of the mountain for the usual medical herbs or anything of that nature. Kureha and Chopper had headed down to Cocoa Weed to treat some patients, and no doubt exploiting them for most of their profits at the same time.

The three saw fit that Naruto could better use his talents to gather more natural-based supplies. After many hard years of enhancing his skills and abilities, he had no trouble finding anything they needed from the outside, no matter how deep it was under the snow, the stone-like dirt (Which he could dig through with ease), or how treacherous the path. It was ironic that Naruto was quite a bit more in tune with his animal nature than his big brother was, who was an animal, to begin with. He just chalked it up to role-reversal. Chopper was shunned from his herd because of his normal appearance and worked to try to be more human. Naruto, however, found that he was a lot more capable as an animal and worked to try and feed that side of him as much as he could. Not saying that Chopper lost his touch in his natural field, but Naruto was the one who wanted to take his rabbit perks to higher levels, which he successfully had done.

Speaking of which, Naruto stopped walking when he came up with a patch of 5 small trees that were grouped in a semi-circle. With a single quick whiff, he gave a grin revealing his fanged teeth. A trait that was very un-rabbit-like. "Alright! I must've hit the jackpot here!" Going to the center tree he knelt down and began to move away handfuls of snow at an alarming rate. In only seconds the five-inch pile was gone, leaving nearly bare dirt and a mass of light green moss. He took his compact medical bag from his belt and unzipped it, showing a cache of assorted berries, small twigs, and small flowers all in clear bags. Removing another plastic bag, he began to scoop the moss into it. "This stuff is going to be perfect to use as both a healing remedy and a muscle relaxer. And thanks to the snow, it's still perfectly moist. That'll make it a lot easier to break down and mix in with other ingredients."

Once he gathered up all of the moss he zipped the bag closed before tucking it back into his bag. Placing the bag on his belt, he wiped his gloved hands in the wet snow to remove any stray moss from them. Believing that he had enough things to get for the day he left the little patch of trees and into the open, making his way home. At that moment, Naruto's right ear jerked to the side as he picked up movement. Stopping, he turned to see 5 large figures walking out from more trees. Naruto wasn't even surprised that they were Laphan's. After all, he practically encounters them all the time whenever he's on an outing, with the occasional Hiking Bear. At least they were friendly, so Naruto was friendly back. Even had a couple of conversations with a few of them. They were pretty interesting animals, which made it a shame that the humans here didn't really know all that much about them personally.

The Laphan, however, were very much different. Besides being rabid man-eaters in nature they particularly despised Naruto and Chopper. Naruto, more so since he had been using them as training dummies whenever he needed a good work-out. It got so bad to the point where the Laphan would form hordes and wait to ambush the thinner rabbit. Sometimes in the day but usually in the dead of night, hoping that would increase their chances of killing him. No one told them that Naruto used that to his advantage to increase his perception training regimen years back. Now the few that were here were growling loudly, gritting their fangs. Droll dripped from their maws at the thought of finally having the human-rabbit man for lunch.

Naruto rolled his eyes as he sighed. Reaching into his medical bag, he pulled out a fresh carrot before he popped it into his mouth like a cigar. He gave a light stroke to the green, leafy stem before he turned his body to the Laphan's giving them his full attention. "Well look who it is? You guys just never seem to learn, huh? I kick your asses all the time but you keep coming back for more. You're tenacious, I'll give you that." He held up his right gloved-hand, extending the index and middle fingers just as the lead Laphan took charge on all fours. Naruto deduced that this guy was the leader considering that he was twice the size of the other four. Drawing his right arm back he waited until the leader was in range, trying for a swipe of his claws.

 **"Rabbit Peace!"** Like a pistol, Naruto sent his arm shooting forward as it crashed into the Laphan's face. The force of the blow stopped the charge on the spot, as a few fangs were knocked out of his mouth. The strike was also accompanied by a miniature shockwave that sent the Laphan flying from Naruto. He flipped, tumbled, and bounced in rapid succession; falling over his ass multiple times before he crashed into a very large boulder. It was destroyed when the killer bunny's body impacted it, stopping his momentum entirely. His nose was bleeding while swirls were in his eyes. The other four Laphan looked at their downed leader for a moment before roaring and charging at Naruto, thinking they could jump him with their numbers.

Naruto just shrugged to himself before slightly tensing his legs. The four rabbit monsters converged onto Naruto intent on ripping him to shreds. They possibly could've succeeded if he was just standing there…which he wasn't of course. They looked around in confusion, wondering where their smaller, similar-animal-based, nemesis had disappeared to. None of them noticed the shadow overhead that was getting larger and larger by the second. Before they knew it a crash sent three of them flying onto their stomachs and a few feet away from each other. They quickly got up and turned to the source, which happened to be Naruto who was standing atop the fourth Laphan's head. The monster was also out-cold with its face in the snow.

"And he sticks it!" Naruto declared to himself as he struck a 'ta-dah!' pose. "Neat, huh? Wanna see it again?" He looked to the remaining three Laphan, wondering for a second if they were going to ease up but he knew better. He did just take out the leader a minute ago and that didn't deter the group in the slightest. He was proven right a second after when the remaining three charged. Already bored with these guys he decided that he would take them out quickly. Stepping off of the Laphan he was on, he held his carrot in his right thumb, index and middle fingers. His right leg flew up faster than the large animals could see and struck the first one in the chest. The force sent him flying away and crashing through a few trees. The second one went for a slash with his left arm, but Naruto's own left hand shot up, grabbing the arm with too much ease. He lifted the Laphan up, swung him back and sent him crashing into the third one, making him fly. With his grip still holding, he slammed the beast into the one that he was using as a stepping stool. His eyes caught the final one who was flying, and in a burst of snow, he was on the move. To the average person, all they would see was a blur of black and white, dashing over the snow to its target. Naruto removed his right hand from the vegetable and drew his arm back again as it took the previous shape of 'Rabbit Peace'.

 **"Rabbit Bitch Slap!"** He yelled once the Laphan fell to a low enough height and Naruto was at a close enough distance. When the Laphan was about to hit the snow upside-down, head-first, Naruto's hand flew towards it and connected first. Deciding to put some effort into this, Naruto's thick boots easily got a good footing in the snow and allowed him to properly shift his weight. The force of the blow sent a pile of snow around him flying as his arm was thrown skyward. The Laphan gave a loud cry as he spiraled into the air, becoming nothing more than a sparkle to show how far it was going to go.

Getting out of his stance, Naruto took a single bite of the carrot. He grabbed it quickly before he fell while he chewed its contents. He wasn't even slightly winded or exhausted from that little scuffle just now. Honestly, he was getting tired of fighting Laphan's all the time. They were just too easy and it wasn't all that fun anymore. Naruto had the drive to want to push his strength to higher limits if he was able, just as much as his medical knowledge. Though he felt stagnated here on Drum. He hit a block and he didn't think he's improving like he used too. "Guess that's what I get for training too hard. Though now that I think about it, there hasn't been a horde of 'em around today. I'd normally have to fight off 30 of those guys every time I come out here," he shrugged it off, "Eh, whatever. Not my problem. If they finally got the message that fighting me is pointless than that's good for me."

Looking up, he saw the cable that led up to the mountain high above him. With a light hop by his standards, he landed on the wide cable. His ears twitched a few moments later as he saw that a large avalanche started to roar down the mountainside too. "Geez, and not too soon! Who the heck 'caused that thing!? Whoever it was, I'm glad I'm not them." Putting the event in the back of his mind, he began to sprint up the cable back to the mountain where home was.

Hours Later

Naruto was with Kureha. At the moment she was supervising and doing her own work, as he took all of the ingredients he found and was grinding them all down so that they could be properly placed into a special blend. The doctrine herself was in no way normal, even if she was human. Not only is her age pretty absurd at 138, but her body seemed to remain a tiny spec of youth, even though it still couldn't fully escape the passage of time. The only indication of her age was her face, and even then she could still pass as a grandmother. Never mind, great, great, grandmother. Her hair was a grayish color which fell over both shoulders. She had two pairs of glasses on her head, one for reading and the other pair were sunglasses. She wore a tight teal and white belly shirt (Decorated with pink flower petals) with a belly button ring, and purple pants held up by a brown belt, with a pink jagged design on the left leg.

If there was one lesson that Naruto had learned from the woman, it was to never address her age. Else she will send you flying through a wall with a very well placed punch. He would've had the scars to prove it, had it not been for his resilient body. Sometimes his outspokenness will land him in trouble down the road, but that's what Chopper is for. To make sure he doesn't do or say anything rash, like how an older brother should be. Calm and collected when it counts the most, compared to Naruto's headstrong nature. Said animal-human doctor caught their attention when he shouted at them from the outside.

"Doctrine! Naruto! Come here quick! There are some people here who need help!" He screamed in panic.

Alert, they both dropped what they were doing (Carefully, of course) before running out into the courtyard. They found Chopper was in his Brain Point as he usually was. Near him, lying in the snow was three people. Two men and a woman. One of the men who had black hair seemed to be in his mid-teens and was not at all dressed for the weather. He only wore a red vest, shorts, and open-toed sandals. His body was practically frozen over entirely and it seemed that he was nothing but frostbite as his skin was bluish-black. He was going to need very serious treatment immediately. The other slightly older one with blonde hair seemed to be more appropriately dressed yet he housed very severe wounds. His clothes were scuffed and his back was slightly bent at an angle. Then came the orange haired woman. Like the black haired man she seemed to be a teenager as well, however, she was very sickly. Her face showed nothing but a very intense fever as she breathed heavily.

Naruto kneeled next to the woman and lightly lifted her head, supporting it. "Chopper, what the hell is this!? Who are these people!?"

Chopper pointed to the frostbitten guy. "I don't know but I just helped him from falling off the mountain! He climbed all the way up here with the other two all by himself!"

Dr. Kureha nearly gasped but didn't since she wasn't prone to doing so. However, she was most definitely surprised while they boys could hear interest peak in her voice. "He climbed this mountain with his bare hands? That's almost three miles of sheer rock to go up!" He shivered terribly and uncontrollably making the mirth in her features vanish. "His entire body is on the brink of frostbite. What was he thinking dressing like that for such a climb!? Draw some hot water and throw him into it."

Naruto nodded to her as he looked at the guy. "Yeah. No problem."

Chopper was busy observing the other man's wounds. He pulled open his coat and shirt, revealing all of the bloodied scars he had coating his torso. "This guy is bleeding a whole lot," he pressed a hooved hand over a few different places on his chest, "he has six broken ribs and a spinal fissure. Can I operate on him doctrine?"

"Sure. Go ahead. Naruto, the girl." She demanded. Naruto stood and moved from his position to allow the doctrine to get a closer look at the girl herself. "Apparently the most critical of our three patients is this girl. This one's dying." She looked at the rabbit man. "Naruto! Have phenicol, cardiotonic and chialshirin ready for me!"

Naruto rose an eyebrow. "Hm? She has an infection?"

Kureha looked back to the girl. "Yes. And the infection isn't from anywhere on this island."

Before she knew it, the black haired boy's cold and bloody hand grasped at her arm, surprising the three of them. Especially with how he was still conscious after all that he had forced upon himself. Slowly he turned his head to face her, doing his best to speak. It was difficult since his teeth kept chattering audibly, along with many pants of obvious exhaustion.

Kureha gave him a knowing look. "Don't worry boy. I'll make the bleeding kid and the sick girl better. You can rest easy, alright?"

He gave two very hard and loud pants, showing his freezing breath. He gave a shorter one before he managed to form words. "Those two are my f-friends, o-okay!?"

Kureha felt herself give a slight smile at how much heart this boy had. In such a terrible state yet he only cared about those he considered his friends. It reminded her of Naruto a lot, though Chopper had that heart as well when it counted. "I figured that kid, I'll save them so don't worry," she said before she turned towards the other two. "Chopper! Naruto! Let's begin treatment!"

She picked up the girl, making sure to support her head a bit. Chopper entered his Heavy Point and delicately picked up the blonde haired man. Naruto grabbed the black haired kid, just as he passed out from his own injuries and the unforgiving cold that was destroying his body. There was a straw hat a little bit away from him too. Figuring that was this guy's Naruto went and grabbed it before they all headed back to the castle.

It took a while to get them situated for proper care. The two men were taken into one room where Chopper decided to treat them like he asked. Kureha scrounged around a little until she found the perfect type of medicine she needed for the girl. Giving it to Naruto she allowed him to make the antidote himself, whilst overseeing her state of being. It had been a few more hours into the day until the girl had begun to regain consciousness. She was lying under a heavy blanket and a soft bed with a large pack of ice on her forehead. Her first sight was that of a large window to her left, some kind of mask figure on the wall and the stone ceiling.

She heard the sound of something, akin to a plate or bowl, being placed on a table. What followed was grinding sounds, making her turn her head the right. Her vision was slightly blurry though she could make out a pretty tall person wearing a lot of black. Though…was that white fur covering his head? And a fluffy tail? And long ears? She blinked in confusion as her vision fully cleared, just as the animal-person turned around allowing her to see his face. He looked like a…rabbit. A rabbit with a human body. A carrot hung from his mouth while his eyes were a very interesting shade of crystal blue. She sat up on her bed and pulled the covers down a bit.

She spoke in a weak voice. "Hello?"

The rabbit man grinned a bit, showing off his very unnerving fangs as he took a few steps over to her. She didn't freak out though. Mainly because she didn't have the energy to do so and this honestly wasn't the strangest of things she had seen. A hand holding the middle area of the carrot, the rabbit spoke in the voice of a young boy. "Cool! You're finally awake. So how's your fever doing?"

"IT'S TALKING!" She nearly screeched, somehow with her slightly agitated throat. Naruto's ears flattened against his head, feeling as though they were ringing. Damn super sensitive hearing.

"Jeez! You don't gotta shout!" His ears lifted up as he began to pick his right one from irritation. "Yeah, I can talk. So what? You're saying animals can't talk?"

She blinked a bit before she composed herself, not expecting to be having a conversation with a rabbit. "Oh. Uh, sorry. You just caught me off guard, is all. I mean I've never seen a talking animal with the body of a person. It's honestly kinda weird."

Naruto blinked himself giving her a dull look. He kept it up for a bit unnerving Nami before he took a bite out of his carrot. Chewing it a bit he swallowed and spoke. "Well…I have a rabbit tail and I have rabbit feet if that counts. Anyway, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Who are you lady and how's your fever?"

"Well…I'm Nami and...My fever? Um…well I feel better, that's for sure.

When she heard a slightly sinister sounding chortle she turned her head around to see Kureha standing there, a bottle of her favorite plum sake in her right hand. "Well your fever seems to have gone down, that's for sure," she grinned, "You happy?"

Naruto took a bite out of his carrot and looked at her. "What's up doc? See you're breaking in some of the spoils from Cocoa Weed."

She gave a chuckle as she walked over to Nami. "When am I not?" She pressed a finger to the younger woman's forehead and gave a 'Hmph' before swinging her head back and taking a multitude of swigs.

"Who are you?" Nami asked. Seeing that the doctrine was busy indulging herself Naruto decided to answer.

"This is Dr. Kureha. The last remaining doctor in Drum Island. Also known as the "Witchdoctor" by everyone else."

Just as he was finished explained Kureha finished drinking for the moment and gave a content sigh. "Yes, it's gone down several degrees, should be alright."

"But if you're the doctor," Nami started as she looked around the room, "then that means we're on-"

"Looking for how I stay so young?" Kureha interrupted while trying to strike a 'sexy' pose. Naruto sweatdropped as he leaned back a little, waving his hand in front of his face.

'No one is gonna ask you that. Ever.' He thought to himself.

She glances at him with a slight gleam in her eyes. "Got something you wanna say, brat?"

Naruto's fur stood on end before he went back to making more medicine. "Nope! Just doing my own thing over here is all!"

"N-no. That's no it." Nami said to Kureha, very clueless about the doctrine's previous antics. The fire crackled heating up the room to warm temperature. Naruto figured that he would go back to making a bit more medicine for Nami and something that could help ease the pain more, thanks to that moss that he picked up from earlier. While he was doing that Kureha took another swig from her bottle, wiping her wrinkled mouth with the same arm.

"Anyway…yes, you're in the castle on the mountain."

"In that case, there were two other people who showed up here with me, weren't there?"

"Yeah, they're sleeping in the next room, very deeply. Two real tough guys." Kureha said as she sat on the bed beside her. Naruto scooped the contents of what he was making into a small wooden bowl. Adding some water to make it moist, he placed a spoon inside. Walking over to Nami he presented it to her. When she looked at it, she only saw a light, greenish-blue slop with a slight tangy scent.

"Here. This should ease up any head trauma and relax your muscles. I also added blueberries and a banana so it doesn't taste like total crap." She took the bowl in both hands, staring at what she was supposed to consume. Blinking she took a spoonful and ate some. She shivered at how it tasted like raw spinach but did catch that fruity aftertaste, which wasn't too bad. It was pretty good even.

"Thank you." She said.

"No problem," Naruto responded.

Kureha lifted Nami's shirt to show her belly. There were some purple splotches on it. "This is what caused your sickness."

"Really?" Nami questioned.

Kureha continued. "You were bitten by a bug called the Kestia. It's a poisonous tick that thrives in jungles with high heat and humidity. When it bites you it produces a type of bacteria into your body. These bacteria lay dormant for 5 days, causing severe pain. It causes a high fever, severe infection, mild carditis, and arthritis. Not pleasant. Given the infection's progression in the infected area, I'd guess you'd been infected for about 3 days now. The pain you'd been feeling must've been terrible, but still, it would've eased up in 2 more days without any treatment at all."

Nami seemed confused by that. This disease was as horrible as Kureha explained it to be, which she would know. These past three days had been so terrible she felt as if she would've died at any moment. She couldn't help but ask, "It would've gone away in 2 days?"

Naruto and Kureha gave grins, unnerving Nami. Naruto momentarily pulled his carrot from his mouth. "Yeah. It would've done its job by then…caused you'd have kicked the bucket by then lady. Good thing you got super lucky, huh?" Naruto said, placing the vegetable between his fangs once more and crossing his arms. Nami gasped in shock about how close to death that she had become. So close that she couldn't even believe it. Part of her wondered what would've happened if they didn't make it to the top of the mountain. "It's called the 'Five Day Disease'. You should be thankful to the doctrine more than you realize. We thought that it died out 100 years ago but she still keeps the anti-biotic for it around, just in case. Ha! Were you walking around some kinda old jungle with your stomach out or something!?"

They both gave their own laughs, with Naruto's being boisterous and Kureha's sounding like a witch's cackle. Kureha sighed. "No, that's just ridiculous."

Nami gave a simple deadpan looked. "Uhhh…."

The two looked at her in confusion before giving their own deadpan expression.

"Does this situation sound familiar to you at all? What a crazy girl you are then." Kureha said with her hands on her hips.

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "More like stupid."

Nami growled at him. "Hey! How was I supposed to know about some kinda century-old killer disease!?"

Kureha then pushed Nami back down, before saying how she needs to rest so the medicine can properly work. While it'd normally take 10 days for anyone with this disease to heal because Kureha has such advanced medicine Nami had 3 days at the most for her to be back in her usual shape. Nami tried to protest afterward saying she didn't have time to waste since she and her friends had to get a person called Vivi to Alabasta. Kureha pushed her back down, held a very sharp scalpel to her neck and threatened her to stay. Either, Nami and her friends would leave here fully healed or dead, Kureha declared and or threatened. Naruto couldn't help but roll his blue eyes at the doctor's scare tactics. With the way she both looks and acts, was it really that hard to believe that she would let a person die by themselves or even induce her own injury to them if it meant to save them? He just hoped that Nami would listen to her crazy advice and do nothing for the next few days.

His ears twitched again as he heard Chopper beginning to panic, making him turn his head to the doorway. "What the-"

"AAAAAGGGHHHHH! SOMEBODY HELP MEEEEEEE!" Before the three of them knew it Chopper came barreling in (Knocking over many things in the process) with those two guys hanging onto him for dear life. And Naruto really didn't like the looks that they had in their eyes.

"HOLD ON, MEAT!" The one with black hair said, trying to take a bite out of Chopper's arm before believing that wasn't enough and then trying to put practically all of him inside.

"Hold on Luffy, let me cook this guy up first!" Said the one with blonde hair, holding onto the other arm. Chopper ran out of the doorway, screaming bloody murder as his voice faded out. He then ran back in through the door in the back of the room, yet Luffy had gotten off of Chopper at that moment. He walked backward and looked at Nami.

"Nami!" He said.

"Nami, dear!" The other said, skipping over.

"You look like you're all better!" Luffy said, wearing a big smile.

"Getting there, thanks," Nami said, having sat up and looked at them. The blonde haired guy placed his left hand on his right bicep.

"Right! One tasty venison dish for Nami coming up!"

Naruto's eyes twitched as they took on a cartoon-ish white. A few tick marks were appearing over his head as he very much didn't appreciate how these idiots were trying to eat his brother alive. He found that Chopper was trying to escape the two of them by sneaking away but they turned to face him. He gasped, slowly looking back to face them. They held looks of hunger in their eyes as they jumped for him.

"COME BACK!"

"WAAAAGGGHHHH! NARUTOOOOOO, HELP MEEEE!"

The rabbit in question growled as both hands extended both index and middle fingers. "CUT IT OUT, YA' DAMN IDIOTS! **DOUBLE RABBIT PEACE!** " Before they knew it, their heads were embedded in the concrete as smoking trails left them skulls. Their lower half's were stuck in the air, while their bodies twitched. Naruto, still with anime-white eyes, had his own trails of smoke leaving his gloves from the amount of power that he put into those attacks. "TRY TO EAT MY BROTHER AGAIN AND I'LL MAKE SURE YOU'RE HURTING MORE THAN YOU'RE HEALED!"

"NARUTOOOO!" Chopper jumped into his little brother's arms with streams of tears coming from his eyes. The only thing coming from his mouth were sobs and incoherent babbling about how he wasn't food and that he didn't taste good. There were some thanks mixed in there too for stopping the crazy men, while Nami just gave a big sweatdrop at the very unusual sight. Kureha took another swig of her sake.

"Naruto, try to make sure you don't bang them up even more? That would defeat the purpose of them being treated, wouldn't it?" She said with a knowing grin. Naruto huffed and glared at the two, who were giving muffled groans under the concrete.

"I'm not gonna make any promise, doctrine. That's their fault."

"Right, right," she looked to Nami, "You better make sure that your friends know about staying in line, or they're going to get more of Naruto's special treatment. I assure you it's not at all pleasant."

Nami placed a hand to her forehead and sighed. "I see. I don't know if I can ever keep them in line on a normal basis…but I'm sure they'll get the message if that's what they're expecting each time they do this."

Naruto glared at her. "Good! I want them to try that again! See where it gets them!"

* * *

Jesus, I thought this was never going to get done. Anyway, there it is. The 1st chapter, though I REALLY wanted to do the part where Naruto and Chopper fight Wapol's two lackeys. And of course, Luffy fights Wapol since it's a symbolic fight and everything. But I just couldn't squeeze it in. If I tried then this chapter would be TOO damn long, and I didn't even expect to break over 19,000 words by NOT getting there. Thought that I could do it but I guess that's what I get for overestimating how much I write. I should've known I couldn't. Anyway, like I said before, this is a joint story between me and **mellra**. So, I released this chapter….he'll be working on the second one. Then I'll be working on the third and so on. Though we will also be collabing on a chapter from time to time. Might really be able to get pretty far if we do things like this.

As per any questions you have about Naruto and Chopper's power-levels (NOT DBZ, Abridged or otherwise) then I think I can answer a few off the bat. YES! Chopper is WAY stronger initially then he is in canon. Meaning that not only can he use ALL of the available Points he used in Part One with no Rumble Ball, it was taken a step further to give him the benefit of controlling 'Monster Point'. Same as he does after the 2 Year time-skip. Not only that, because of Naruto edging him on, day after day about physical training along with their medical skills, he's an even more capable hand-to-hand fighter. Meaning that a lot of his opponents can be owned with 'Heavy Point' alone, since he not only just has the brute strength of that Point to work with. He's faster, agiler AND 'Heavy Point' is even stronger. Things like 'Arm Point' and 'Jumping Point' are enhanced as well. With 'Arm Point' he could easily punch through solid iron and 'Jumping Point' can be used for kicking attacks this time. 'Guard Point' can allow him to tank cannonballs or other heavy-hitting things a lot better than normal.

Thanks to helping Naruto with fighting many Laphan's all the time, he is even capable of fighting through hordes of enemies and is not SO much of a coward anymore BECAUSE he's strong. So, he won't be part of the "Weakling Trio" with Nami and Usopp...a good portion of the time. Things like ghosts and such DO still scare him. Hell, ghosts scare Naruto, too. BUT he IS still Chopper and Chopper has not changed personality-wise as you have seen with Luffy and Sanji. He is still gullible, can still be frightened if the threat is high or spooky, and he loves cotton candy. But Naruto just brought out the capable side of him, which will be lot more of an asset in the future. Example? Enies Lobby rolls around, he'll dominate Kumadori. Seriously, it'll practically be no contest.

And I'm sure that if you knew Naruto, then he'd do anything to get stronger. Especially if he has a reason to want it. And since he and Chopper are so close, is it THAT hard to believe he'd persuade Chopper to train as hard as him? Not really and it's most definitely going to pay off. (It was all **mellra's** idea though. I won't take credit.) For Naruto, he'd already be very strong because rabbits have VERY strong limbs...or at least strong legs, heh. But Naruto's been working on his arms and ears as well. Now pile training in a bunch of varying ways for years on end, every day on top of that and yes…he can bench press a tree and send a Lahpan flying into the sky with a single attack. That's the benefit of all that One Punch Man training while NOT being able to down all of his enemies in a single punch. The training was more of a gag if anything. And his jumping prowess? He could jump up Drum Mountain in nothing short of a good amount of full-strength hops. Just a few minutes later and he'd reach the top. Now if you remember, Naruto does have his own Points, yet he needs a Rumble Ball to use them and he has no Monster Point to speak of. However, he does keep Rumble Balls just in case he ever needs them, but he feels more comfortable fighting with his natural abilities.

Hope that helps some. No doubt we'll get more of those sweet questions, so we'll answer them as best we can.


	2. Battle on the Mountaintops

Disclaimer: This idea belongs to the insane minds of **mellra** and **Dimension Distorter**. The original series, however, belong to their respective owners. DEAL WITH IT!

Chapter 2:

Battle on the Mountaintops

Naruto grumbled as he wrapped bandages around the two male Straw Hat pirates. "Why am I the one who has to treat these two idiots again?"

"You know the rules brat: you break them, you treat them," Kureha chided as she cracked open a new bottle of sake and started guzzling it.

"And yet whenever she beats the crap out of a patient, its always either me or Chopper who winds up treating them," Naruto muttered under his breath as he finished his wrapping.

"What was that?!" the witch doctor snapped while glaring daggers at her youngest student.

"Nothing! Just treating the patients, yep!" Naruto squeaked out as bullets of sweat started pouring out.

Kureha continued to glare for a minute as Naruto struggled to keep a straight face least it get rearranged by his teacher…again. Finally, with a huff, Kureha went back to her booze and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief just as the two out cold pirates started coming to.

"Ugh, what happened?" the blonde haired one, who Nami called Sanji groaned as he sat up while clutching his throbbing head.

"Dunno. I remember seeing meat, then Nami was awake, seeing meat again, then screaming, then my face going to the floor," the other one, Luffy as he was called, mused as he started to pick his nose with his pinky like he didn't just get blunt force trauma to the skull.

 _'…Is this guy some kind of idiot?'_ Naruto thought to himself with a sweatdrop at the slightly older teen's rather childish summary of what happened. Figuring he didn't want the headache of dealing with the two patients after the way they treated his brother, Naruto decided to do the smart thing and went to fetch more medical supplies. On the way out, Naruto spotted Chopper peeking in to observe the three new humans…while facing the wrong way so most of his body was sticking out and only covering a tiny portion of his face.

As Naruto saw this, a gloved hand came up as he slapped himself in the face. "Chopper, how many times do we gotta go over this? You're supposed to hide the other way if you wanna peek in on someone!" Naruto said in an exasperated tone, as this was the 478th time they've had this exact conversation.

Chopper gave a heavy blush (that somehow made its way through his fur) and hurridly switched his position around so only a portion of his face, antlers, and hat were poking out. "Oops, thanks Naruto!" he thanked in a hushed tone, not wanting the other occupants in the room to know he was there and possibly try to eat him again.

As the two apprentice doctors were talking, Kureha had introduced herself to Luffy and Sanji and had started up a conversation. Once they found that she was the doctor who helped treat them, Luffy became adamant on having the elderly woman join his crew.

"Please! Join my crew! Come on, Granny!" he begged as he leaned across the table they were sitting at to talk to the doctrine.

Both animal hybrids froze at this and thought simultaneously, _'Oh, crap!'_

Kureha confirmed their fears with her next sentence as she beckoned the straw hat wearing boy closer. "Your name is Luffy, right?" she asked and when Luffy confirmed this, the doctrine sent a vicious roundhouse kick to the back of his neck in a move no woman her age should have been able to pull off. "WELL WATCH YOUR DAMN MOUTH, LUFFY! I'm still in my young and hip 130s!"

Sanji, who just watched his captain get manhandled, apparently didn't get the memo and commented, "Damn, that's one strong granny!"

This in turn lead the chef to join his captain in getting knocked clean over to the door, causing Naruto to sidestep him as the blonde's skull met cold, merciless stone. Luffy, however, seemed to recover almost instantly and went right back to the doctrine to continue his argument why she should join his pirate crew, saying that they needed a doctor and that they'd go on all sorts of adventures. Kureha, however, just dismissed this as she went back into her chair, saying that she wasn't interested in 'wasting her youth' at sea. Meanwhile, both Chopper and Naruto froze a bit at that, remembering how their adopted father would always go on about how he admired pirates. Before anything else could be done, both pirates suddenly noticed the blue-nosed reindeer peeking out from behind the door (despite his better position), and both gained a disturbing and hungry glint to their eyes. Chopper gulped while Naruto's eyes narrowed.

The two pirates suddenly leaped from their positions at the now screaming Chopper with cries of, "REINDEER MEAT!"

Naruto was having no of that though and leaped into action. Giving a relatively weak (for him) jump that sent him flying towards the high ceiling, the rabbit man came down with the force of a meteorite and yelled, "WHAT DID I TELL YOU TWO IDIOTS ABOUT MESSING WITH MY BROTHER?! DO YOU WANT ME TO SEND YOU BACK DOWN THE MOUNTAIN THE EXPRESSWAY!?"

With that, Naruto planted both his boot-clad feet on the two teen's faces, who had the misfortune of looking up to see the source of the shout and winded up crashing back onto the ground with their body's making slight cracks in the stone. Naruto hopped off the two he downed with a ticked off look on his face and Chopper ran over to clutch his leg while babbling incoherently on how he wasn't food. Fortunately for the Straw Hats they weren't knocked out this time and got up with twin groans. They then blinked as they looked over to Naruto and the still crying Chopper as the rabbit boy popped another carrot into his mouth and started chewing on it to relieve some of his frustrations.

"Hey, Sanji," Luffy started as he tilted his head to the side a bit.

"Yeah?" Sanji asked as he mimicked the motion.

"Is that a person or a rabbit?" the captain asked.

"Well, it's standing like a person and has clothes, but everything else about him screams rabbit," Sanji said sagely and he continued, "He kinda reminds me of those psycho rabbits that chased us up here, but smaller and a bit more human-like."

"And is it just me, or did he talk just now?" Luffy went on as Naruto's left eye began to twitch in irritation as these two numbskulls continued to talk as if he wasn't standing right in front of him. Did they seriously think these ears were for show or something?

Sanji shook his head and said, "I doubt it. It was probably just your imagination playing tricks on you. Although," at this, a familiar gleam entered his visible eye that immediately got the two younger boys on edge, "he'd be great to try out my recipe for hasenpfeffer!"

"Oh, HELL NO!" Naruto shouted at that as his hands went into familiar shapes and he quickly charged at a surprised Sanji. **"Multi Rabbit Bitch-Slap!"** He roared as he began repeatedly slapping the man across the face with both hands, shouting out at every slap, "WE (Slap!) ARE (Slap!) NOT (Slap!) FOOD (SLAP!)!"

When Naruto finished, he was holding a swollen faced, black and blue Sanji by his collar as he snarled in the dazed man's face with his intimidating razor sharp teeth. "Listen here, buster: Me and my bro here are not on your menu. Try anything again and I'll send you flying into the South Blue, am I clear?"

Since his lips were rather swollen at the time, Sanji just settled for rapidly nodding his head. "Good!" Naruto grunted with a nod of his own head as he dropped Sanji on his rear and then noticed a starry-eyed Luffy looking at him. Feeling rather uncomfortable with this look, Naruto asked, "What?"

"COOL! A TALKING RABBIT GUY!" Luffy shouted out in childish glee before he grabbed Naruto by the shoulders and all but screamed at him, "JOIN MY CREW RABBIT GUY!"

Naruto could only stare in slight shock at this before shaking himself out of his stupor and pushing Luffy off of him with a yell, "What are you, an idiot?! First, you try eating my bro, then you just ask me out of nowhere if I wanna sail with you? What kind of messed up world do you live in!?"

He then turned to Kureha and Chopper, who had moved over to the doctrine's side and said, "Listen, I've gotta go check on some of the supplies. If either of these two idiots gives you trouble just give me a holler," Naruto finished as he turned and went out the door.

However, Luffy was not so easily deterred and ran out after him yelling, "Wait, Rabbit Guy!"

Kureha, fed up with the rubber man's antics, pulled out several kitchen knives from seemingly nowhere and followed suit, screeching, "Keep bothering my students and I'll end up cooking you for supper!"

Sanji, hoping to protect his captain from the obviously deranged lunatic following him (as well as hoping to stop him from trying to recruit the other deranged lunatic who had just moments ago turned his face into pudding) hobbled out after them, leaving a confused Nami and Chopper behind to wonder what in the hell just happened. Meanwhile, with the group who left, Luffy had somehow managed to lose both Naruto and Kureha (the former who noticed he was being followed and sped off deeper into the deceptively large and snowy castle while the later he managed to momentarily outrun) and had caught up with Sanji close to the main stairwell. It was then that both pirates noticed that for some reason there was snow inside the castle, causing the two to shiver from the cold.

Before they could further investigate, Kureha appeared once more, this time armed with everything from battle axes to several live roosters. Both Luffy and Sanji began running again, but this time for their lives as they tried to avoid the witch doctor's deadly assault. Sanji, after dodging a knife just thrown at his tender areas, shouted to Luffy, "Luffy, give up on trying to recruit her as our doctor! She's clearly just a deranged lunatic! And forget about that rabbit guy, he's just as crazy!"

Back with Nami and Chopper, the reindeer apprentice had convinced Nami not to move from her bed because, while she was feeling better, there was still a chance of some leftover bacteria in her system that could cause problems unless she took it easy. The reindeer human seemed very nervous around the girl, as outside of Hiluluk, Naruto, and Kureha, the childish Zoan Fruit user had limited interactions with other humans, few of which were any good. However, his curiosity had momentarily overridden his social anxiety and he hesitantly got closer to the orange haired girl, cautiously holding a hooved arm out like he was worried that Nami would bite it off if he made a wrong move.

"…S-so you're pirates?" Chopper asked quietly, and when Nami gave the affirmative he continued, "D-does that mean you carry a flag with skull and crossbones?!" To which the navigator once more confirmed was on their ship's sail.

Nami, hearing the wonder in the reindeer's voice asked, "Are you interested in pirates?"

The reaction was instantaneous as Chopper, quick as a blink, flattened himself against the wall opposite Nami and shouted out, "NO, OF COURSE NOT! YOU IDIOT!" in a voice that just screamed denial.

Nami, already familiar with Chopper's quick mood swings and lack of hiding his emotions from their earlier conversation was used to this and said in an exasperated tone, "Riiiight, of course, you're not. My bad." She then gained a gentle smile and asked, "But even so, would you like to come along with us?"

"WHAT!?" Chopper gasped out, his eyes nearly bulging from his head.

Nami elaborated, "To the seas, I mean! How about it? It'd really help me out a lot. If we only had a doctor onboard, I wouldn't need to stay here for three more days, right? We could leave right aw-"

An angry look passed over Chopper's face as he shouted at her, "D-don't be stupid! I'm a reindeer! How could I ever travel along with humans?!" and he said in a calmer tone as his shock and anger started to fade, "Besides, a-aren't you scared of how I look…? I'm a reindeer, but I talk and walk on two legs…and my nose is blue too."

In reality, Chopper was scared of meeting new people. Most tended to react in fear because of how different he was and he'd always end up rejected. While he did have a family in his brother and the two doctors in his life, a large part of him was still traumatized by what the villagers and his own herd did to him back when he was a baby. Besides…even if he wanted to go, what about Naruto? There was no way in hell he'd ever leave his brother behind! After all, it was the big brother's duty to look after the younger one, right? Even though the opposite usually winded up happening like earlier today. Now that he looked back on it, he was rather ashamed of how he reacted. Instead of fighting back and standing up for himself like he'd been training to do these last few years, a few scary words and actions and he went crying to his younger adopted sibling for protection.

Chopper was broken out of his thoughts when the door was slammed open and both Sanji and Luffy came screeching in, the two somehow still being able to run despite having kitchen knives lodged in their heads. Upon seeing Chopper, the two forgot about the crazy witch and rabbit man and only saw the potential meal in front of them. Chopper, meanwhile, also was driven out of his funk and his thoughts of being brave once he saw the two psychos from before with glinting eyes and drooling mouths, before he ran out of the room with a scream followed by the two Straw Hats.

Giving a huff, a winded Dr. Kureha came into the room shortly after and sat down on a chair near Nami's bed. "Those two sure can run fast," She sighed as she leaned back before giving a pointed look at Nami and saying dryly, "And you're no better than your rowdy crewmates, missy. Trying to abduct my reindeer while I'm gone, are you now?"

Nami, instead of getting flustered just gave a seemingly innocent smile and asked, "Oh? Since when does a lady need permission to practice the art of seduction?"

Kureha gave a cackle at that and remarked, "Well said! Take him away if you want!"

"Gee, it's great to know how much you care about us. Really, my heart's all a fricken' twitter with how much love is in the air," a deadpan voice called from the doorway and the two women turned to see Naruto standing in the doorway with some fresh bandages and herbs bundled in his arms while from his two long ears hanged jars of even more medicine.

The doctrine gave a dismissive wave as the rabbit boy set down his burden in their respective places. "Bah! You don't need to take everything I say so literal brat! Besides," with this, she gained a melancholy look about her as she spoke more to Nami now, "It's going to take a lot more than a warm smile and an invitation. Chopper's heart is still severely wounded, a wound not even a doctor can fix."

"Way to lay it on thick," Naruto muttered under his breath as he went over to Nami with a thermometer before placing it in her mouth and then taking one of his gloves off to show with furry white hand and small claws before he pressed the palm to Nami's forehead and said, "Well, at least the fever's broke for now." He then placed his glove back on before he turned back to face his mentor. "So what's this about you trying to pawn off Chopper when he's not even around to give his opinion?...Come to think of it, where is he?"

"COME BACK HERE REINDEER MEAT!"

"I'M NOT FOOD, YOU CREEPS!"

Naruto's eyes went white as a tick mark appeared on his head. "Dammit! Do those two EVER listen?! I swear, I'm gonna give them a 'Rabbit Peace' so bad, it'll leave a permanent tramp stamp on their face!" he growled out as he went charging out the door to save Chopper from the two numbskulls. Both Nami and Kureha sweatdropped at that before going back to their conversation.

"Wait, what do you mean about the wounds of his heart? And how does Naruto factor into all this? They call each other brothers but…?" the cat burglar left the question in the air about how the two were related.

Kureha pulled out another sake bottle and popped it open before saying, "Might as well make yourself comfortable girlie, this story may take a while."

 **Meanwhile**

"…Gonna stomp their faces so hard their noses will poke out their asses!" Naruto ranted as he used his senses to follow the sound of his fellow apprentice being chased by two ravenous pirates. He heard Chopper lose them when they reached the main entryway because apparently the captain and the chef had noticed that the door had been left open allowing the snow and cold to billow inside. Naruto's eyes widened as he heard the two talking about closing the door. 'Oh, crud! Those two have no idea what they're doing!' he thought as he picked up the pace, becoming a white and black blur to the casual observer.

However, he was brought to a screeching halt as a familiar but unexpected voice yelled out, "STOP! Don't touch that door!"

A small smile graced Naruto's features at that and he whispered under his breath, "Good job, big bro!"

Apparently, Chopper had momentarily gotten over his fear of the new patients (plus his fear of being eaten by said patients) and was holding his ground so the snow bird's nest on the top of the open door wouldn't be disturbed. Naruto continued to listen several hallways away as Chopper, who had been ignored by the two pirates, proceeded to go into his Heavy Point and smash a railing to get the duo to pay attention. It was then that the boys noticed the nest and proceeded to back off while Chopper left the room with a satisfied pace. Grinning, Naruto walked over and met his fellow Zoan Fruit user in the hallway just off the main entrance. No words were exchanged, just a smile and nod of understanding between the two as they continued to walk off side by side.

They were brought to a momentary pause, however, as Luffy and Sanji finally were able to put the pieces together about Chopper in that they finally noticed he could talk, walk on two legs, and change his size. "IT'S A MONSTER!" the two concluded at the same time.

Naruto, noticing the sagging of his brother's shoulders knelt down and brought him into a comforting hug. "Don't worry about them Chopper. They wouldn't know a monster if one walked up and kicked them in the nads!" Naruto declared as he tried cheering his brother up, silently swearing to himself that if he ever saw those two again, they'd get a one way trip to the moon.

However, the next comment caused the two to look at each other in confusion and surprise as Luffy's voice rang out, "That's so cool! There are two animal monsters here! Sanji, let's get them to join our crew!"

There was then the sound of what appeared to be a stampede of wild buffalo before the door was blown open and the two pirates were there with a different maniacal gleam in their eyes than before. The two brothers shared a look before charging as fast as they could in the opposite direction from the two clearly crazy Straw Hats. "WAIT RIGHT THERE MONSTER GUYS! JOIN OUR CREW!" Luffy shouted out in glee.

"GYAAAA!" the two younger boys screamed simultaneously, both hoping to get rid of the crazy as soon as possible. In only a few moments, however, both of their noses twitched in sync with each other and their eyes narrowed in both worry and anger. "This scent…" Chopper started.

"It's Wapol!" Naruto finished with a un-rabbit-like growl as he slammed a fist into his gloved hand, awaiting the confrontation that was five years in the making.

After running back to Nami's room to tell the doctrine of Wapol's return, the three doctors ran to the front of the castle to meet the corrupt king and his goons with Chopper in his Walk Point and Naruto placing a tall black hat on his head that, when coupled with his thick scarf, effectively hid his rabbit shaped face. As the three went to the snow-covered courtyard, they saw Wapol and his two henchmen lamenting about the cherry blossom coated pirate flag now flying on the castle's tower.

Wapol was a fairly short man who made up for his lack of height with his wide girth. He also had small, beady eyes, shoulder length purple hair, and wore a long fur coat that was in the shape of a hippo. One of the strangest parts of his appearance, however, was the fact that his entire jaw seemed to be fitted with a metal mouthpiece, that actually went with the plate armor he wore under his coat. His one subordinate, whose name was Chess, wore a blue and green jester's outfit and carried a bow and arrow on his back. His most distinguishing characteristic was his large, wavy mouth with very thick lips. Wapol's other subordinate goes by the name Kuromarimo, wore an orange snowsuit and seemed to have an afro fixation as not only was his hair a large black afro, but his beard-mustache combo had three afros styled in it and his mittens were also shaped like the hairstyle. Finally in the background was Wapol's personal mount, a Furry Hippo named Robson. All in all, the group looked more like circus performers than a royal procession.

Kureha, hearing the returned king complaining that the Drum Kingdom flag was missing, cackled and told the trio that she had burned the previous flag. Wapol, recognizing Kureha as the only doctor to escape his Doctor Hunts, angrily demanded to know why she was there.

The doctrine cackled again as she pushed up her sunglasses to get a better look at the face Wapol was making as she told them, "I've already decided to make this castle Hiluluk's grave. It ain't a place for rotten little brats like yourselves to loiter around. Now get the hell out of this country! Drum Kingdom is a thing of the past!"

Wapol laughed mockingly and spat out, "A grave?! My magnificent castle is to be a grave for that quack doctor?! Mahahaha! Don't make me laugh!"

He didn't even notice the dangerous look that had entered the brother doctors' eyes as the fat tyrant mocked their late father. He did, however, hear a battle cry as Luffy came running out of the castle followed quickly by Sanji. Then the weird stuff started to happen as Luffy's arm seemed to stretch behind him like a rubber band, causing the trio of doctor's eyes to widen slightly in surprise while Wapol's widened in panic as the pirate captain's fist went flying forward…right into his face! The blow was so strong that it sent the fat tyrant flying back, much to the dismay of his two followers and the open-mouthed shock of the three doctors. The only one who didn't seem surprised was Sanji as he came to a halt and calmly smoked his cigarette while wondering why the corrupt royals were there.

Acting quickly, both Chess and Kuromarimo were able to stop Wapol from flying off the mountain by grabbing onto his legs. The king himself was groaning in pain with a bruised face and an even more bruised ego.

Luffy stood in the courtyard while looking at the three villains with a look of annoyance on his face. "You three sure were a big pain in my ass on the way up here," he started before holding up his fist and laughing, "But now I don't need to hold back anymore~!"

Kuromarimo shouted out, "How dare you to treat King Wapol of Drum with such disrespect and brutality?!"

Chess added, "That's right! Don't you realize you're in the presence of royalty?! This island and the lives of its inhabitants are subject to the very whims of his regal self!"

Luffy, instead of looking intimidated, stretched out his cheeks to absurd levels and stuck out his tongue at them while saying, "King? So what?! All I know is that you guys annoy the hell outta me."

Kureha, composing herself asked the pirate captain, "You know those three, kid?"

Luffy went on a tangent on how the group had apparently run into the three before and Wapol's men had pretended to be pirates while picking a fight with the Straw Hats. Sanji, meanwhile, asked Luffy if he was cold since he was still just wearing a vest and shorts. Suddenly, a look of realization crossed Luffy's features as he shouted out,

"Did they just say 'king!?' I thought they were pirates!"

"You just realized that!?" Sanji screamed in frustration at his dull-witted captain.

"HOLY COW, IT'S COLD!" Luffy then stated in shock as he started to furiously rub his arms.

"Yeah, I KNOW!" Sanji shot back.

"This guy's a dumbass," Naruto stage-whispered to Chopper, who nodded back. "But," at this Naruto gave a sharp grin behind his scarf, "I actually think I'm starting to like him."

By this point, Wapol and his cronies were tired of being ignored as Wapol let out a yell while getting up. "Strawhat…! You've ticked me off big time…I swear I'll devour every last piece of you now…" He ground out with a bloody nose.

"Uhh, might want to save the tough-talk. He's gone back inside to get a jacket," Sanji piped up.

"HE'S NOT HERE!?" Wapol screeched in frustration.

Ignoring Naruto's laughter beside him, Chopper turned to look at Sanji and asked about the other pirate, "If you don't mind me asking…did he…stretch just now…?"

"Sure did. He's a rubber-man," Sanji supplied helpfully.

"…What's that?" Chopper asked.

Sanji gave the reindeer a big grin and replied, "It means he's a monster."

This caught both Chopper and Naruto's attention, as neither Devil's Fruit user has had much experience with other Fruit users. Back with the three stooges, aka Wapol and his men, they were discussing on a plan of attack in order to remove all the thorns in the king's generous backside at once. Both Chess and Kuromarimo stepped forward, eager to kiss the ass…I mean, please the king by fighting first.

When hearing the men talking about reclaiming the castle, Kureha giggled, "Personally, I couldn't care less about the crumbling piece of heap you call a castle," she then gestured to Chopper and Naruto, the former going into his Heavy Point while the latter removed his hat and lowered his scarf, showing his rabbit features, "but my two stubborn friends here were insistent about making a proper grave for Hiluluk here, you see."

Both Chess and Kuromarimo gasped out that the two boys were the same monsters that had come to that very spot following Hiluluk five years ago. Chopper in his Heavy Point said resolutely, "Doc wanted to save this country. That's why I won't let you set a single foot in this castle! I WON'T LET THE LIKES OF YOU KNOCK DOWN DOC'S 'CONVICTION'!" Chopper finished with a shout.

"And if you got a problem with that," Naruto picked up while stepping forward and pulling his gloves tighter and giving a sharp grin, "we've got the perfect remedy to cure what ails you: one ass kicking!"

Instead of being intimidated, Wapol laughed, "Mahahaha! Excellent! All the people I want to kill, right here in one place! No need for any mercy, Chess, and Kuromarimo! Slaughter them all!"

Sanji was confused as to what grievance the king had with his crew but shrugged it off and turned to Kureha. "So, are you gonna fight too, Granny?"

Naruto mentally winced at the sound of Kureha pounding the chef into the snow. _'Dumbass. You'd think he'd learn by now,'_ he sighed as he pulled out a carrot and popped it into his mouth as a bruised Sanji limped up the combatant's line while Kureha said she'd lend a hand if the three boys couldn't handle it. Kuromarimo, seeing his chance, suddenly threw what looked like a large hairball at the doctrine. However, before it could make contact Naruto leaped in the way with his right hand in its signature peace sign.

"How's about you focus on your opponents, yah afro obsessed freak?" Naruto chided as he shot out a 'Rabbit Peace', stopping the hairball in its tracks. However, instead of flying off like it was supposed to, the hairball seemed to cling to Naruto's glove, much to his confusion and disgust. "What the hell is this?! You use superglue as a hair gel or something!?" he cried out as he tried to shake the hair off his glove to little effect.

Kuromarimo laughed, "Ha! It's static electricity you Laphan monster!" he then pulled out a piece of his afro which suddenly enlarged into another hairball and multiplied by two, which he also sent sailing towards the struggling rabbit man.

"Naruto!" Chopper called out in concern, but relaxed when he saw the look in his brother's eyes that told him the rabbit Zoan had the situation under control.

Before the hairballs could make contact with Naruto, the boy seemed to vanish and the attack flew harmlessly by. "What the-?! He disappeared!" Kuromarimo shouted in surprise.

He was soon proven wrong, however, as Naruto descended from his jump right in front of the man, surprising the former government official. Naruto gave his signature grin as he said, "Here's your hairball back!" Before he delivered a powerful Rabbit Peace to the man's gut.

The force of the blow sent the man skidding back as blood squirted from his mouth, though he showed that he was a bit tougher than he looked as he remained conscious. The attack also had the bonus of ridding the hairball from Naruto's gloved hand and placing it on Kuromarimo's outfit. Chess, angered by the attack on his comrade, pulled out a burning arrow and aimed it at Naruto.

"You damn brat!" the jester themed man seethed as he prepared to fire on the rabbit boy. However, using Chess' distraction to his advantage, Chopper took this opportunity to leap forward and pulled back his large fist in order to deliver a powerful blow.

Unfortunately for the reindeer doctor, Wapol had seen the attack coming and pushed Chess out of the way, his mouth opened wide thanks to the abilities of his Devil's Fruit: the Munch-Munch Fruit. It was only thanks to Chopper's training that he was able to react in time and used his muscular arms to hold the king's oversized mouth open in order to avoid being swallowed whole. However, this left the two at a stalemate as Chopper was left in a vulnerable position while Wapol struggled to close his mouth around the reindeer. At that moment, Luffy ran out of the castle while wearing Nami's coat and, seeing an opportunity, Sanji ordered the rubber-man to grab his leg. Luffy complied and stretched his arms out, grabbing the offered appendage. Sanji then gave a mighty kick that sent Luffy flying right at Wapol and Chopper, hearing the incoming attack, dodged out of the way just in time. This left Wapol off balance and unable to dodge at a now spinning Luffy slammed right into his obese stomach.

This sent the king flying once more, though his flight was halted this time by his Furry Hippo, who he slammed into full force sending the beast flying off into the distance with a twinkle. Both Chess and Kuromarimo were horrified that their king was sent flying yet again and quickly ran off to assist him while the two doctors and the Straw Hats went back to the front of the castle's entrance and awaited the next assault. When they got there, Sanji berated Luffy for wearing Nami's jacket while Chopper hesitantly thanked the two for the save. Naruto meanwhile cracked his fingers as he got ready for the next round.

Both Chess and Kuromarimo helped Wapol up while apologizing profusely for underestimating their opponents while Wapol seethed as he spat out a glob of blood, "I'll kill them! It's time for me to show them my Munch-Munch Factory!"

He then demanded Chess to remind him of all he had to eat since that morning. Chess pulled out a notebook and listed a series of items that didn't sound like food at all including a butter-sautéed cannon, a raw cannon, a cannonball and gunpowder salad, and one grilled house from the village below.

"What the heck does he eat?" Luffy questioned with a sweatdrop.

Sanji agreed, "Calling him an omnivore would be the understatement of the decade."

Naruto put his two beri in, "I'd hate to see how he takes a crap with that kind of diet."

Wapol smirked evilly at the group. "Watch closely, the true power of my Munch-Munch Fruit can be seen only after a meal!" he declared.

"Probably his breath," Naruto muttered while Chopper wondered aloud what Wapol was planning to do.

Just then, Wapol's body began to mutate much to their surprise. As this was happening, Wapol shouted out, "The very things I consume can become my new flesh and blood! Munch-Munch SHOCK!"

The assembled pirates and doctors could only stare dumbfounded at Wapol's new appearance. The man was now the size of a house, complete with a door and windows in his torso while a smoking chimney popped out of the top of his head and his arms became actual cannons. **"Wapol House!"** the king declared proudly.

"A house!?" Sanji asked in shock.

"AWESOME!" Luffy cried with bulging eyes.

"…And I thought he was fat before," Naruto said in a deadpan, his right eye twitching.

"And people call US freaks," Chopper muttered in agreement.

Kureha then spoke up, "Don't let your guard down kiddies. If those fellas were actually weak, this nation's citizens wouldn't have put up with the ridiculous Doctor-Banishments for so long."

Wapol started speaking in an official tone, saying how he was the supreme authority on the island and that everything on it belonged to him. He then pointed his right cannon-arm at the flag waving at the top of the castle and shouted, "So there's no way in hell I'm going to stand by while some quack doctor's flag is hanging on the top of my castle! It's defiling my entire royal abode!" He then opened fire with the cannon, much to the doctor's shock. The attack happened so suddenly that even Naruto couldn't react to stop the cannonball from destroying part of the base of the flag's pole.

In anger, the two animal humans charged at Wapol with Chopper going high while Naruto struck low. Both of the king's guards got in the two apprentices' ways, but they were easily able to dodge the men with Naruto flipping over Chess and Chopper going to his Brain Point and sliding between Kuromarimo's legs. Naruto, being the faster of the two, struck the back of Wapol's relatively short legs and caused the human house to topple onto his back. Chopper, leaping into the air, landed on Wapol in his Heavy Point and reared his fist back to drive his fist into the fat man's face. However, instead of striking, Chopper hesitated.

"I…I won't hit you!" Chopper declared in a resolute voice before continuing, "But you better get out of this country this instant!"

Kureha shouted out, "What kinda crap are you spoutin' Chopper?! Do you really think he can be reasoned with?!"

Chopper turned to look at the doctrine and explain his reasoning, but Wapol gained a smug smirk at Chopper's distraction and aimed one of his cannon arms at Chopper's exposed back. Before he could fire, however, a white and black blur darted forward and grabbed Chopper, yanking him out of the way of the sneak attack. Skidding in the snow was Naruto, holding onto Chopper and pulling him along despite the latter's larger form. The rabbit man turned to look at his brother and the reindeer slightly flinched at the sharp look in Naruto's blue eyes.

"Chopper…I know the Doc wanted to save everyone, but you gotta know when someone simply doesn't want to be saved," Naruto said to him in a quiet tone. "Believe me, I want to see everyone save too, but don't ever lower your guard in a fight, especially when going up against someone like the tin can over there. They won't hesitate to use your kindness against you like any bully."

Chopper opened his mouth, but before any further conversation could be had there was a sound from the castle's roof. Looking up, everyone in the courtyard saw Luffy scaling the tallest tower like a monkey climbing a tree with the damaged flag in his hands. Tearing off the sleeve of his borrowed coat, Luffy tied the cherry blossom pirate flag back into place using the sleeve as an improvised rope. Once he was finished, he stood beside the flag while looking down onto the three villains with a hard look.

With a hard tone, Luffy called down, "Hey, you with the big fat mouth! A lying poser like you, who only 'played' pirates without even fully risking your life, could never understand the true meaning of a pirate's flag!"

"What?!" Wapol snarled up at the foolish pirate who dared defy him.

Chopper meanwhile was looking up at the captain with a look akin to awe while Naruto had a softer smile than his usual grins as he looked up at the older boy with interest. While first impressions weren't the most promising, the pirates were starting to raise their way in the rabbit man's respect level.

Wapol scoffed, "The true meaning of that flag? Mahaha! As if there's any deep meaning behind some stupid fluff that pirates use as decoration!"

"That's exactly why you're just a lying poser!" Luffy shot back. "This flag isn't something you pretend pirates can go around waving, even as a joke!"

Wapol gained an angry look at the peasant looking down on him and shouted up to Luffy, "Oh please! You think a king like me goes around playing pirate because he wants to!? Stop trying to hold up that eyesore any longer!" aiming his left arm-cannon up at Luffy and the flag, Wapol roared, "This is my county and I won't let it be defiled by some idiotic pirate flag! I'll shoot it down however many times it takes!" And with that, he fired up at the Straw Hat's captain and Hiluluk's flag.

"Luffy!" Sanji grit out around his cigarette.

"Watch out!" Chopper called in worry.

"He's not gonna move-!" Naruto muttered with wide eyes as he saw the iron hard will in Luffy's eyes as the cannonball drew closer.

Luffy defiantly shouted down, "I'd like to see you try! A pirate flag IS A SYMBOL OF CONVICTION!"

The cannonball made a direct hit, making Sanji and the doctors cry out in shock as Wapol laughed, confident he blew the 'deluded hippo' up. However, as the smoke blew away a sight greeted them that made both Chopper and Naruto speechless. There, standing on the blasted tower, was a slightly burned and smoking Luffy holding up the cherry blossom pirate flag clenched firmly in his right hand.

"See? You can't break this flag!" the future Pirate King declared. He then continued despite the king and his men saying that the rubber man was insane, "I don't know who this belongs to, but a flag backed by a man's conviction and will, it's not something you can play around with!" He then gained a dangerous look in his eyes as he shouted down in a powerful voice, "A BUMBLING IDIOT LIKE YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN DARE TO TOUCH THIS FLAG!"

The strength of will in that shout was strong enough to make Wapol and his men step back at its intensity while the two brothers could only look up at Luffy in awe.

"So that's a pirate, huh?" Naruto wondered aloud, unknowingly mirroring his brother's thoughts. The rabbit man gained a wide smile on his face as he said in a voice just above a whisper, "He's awesome!"

Luffy then called down to both Chopper and Naruto, "Hey animal guys! I'm gonna start kicking their asses right now, but what'll you do?"

Both brothers couldn't help but give matching grins at this. "You have to ask?" Chopper questioned while rolling his muscular shoulder in place to loosen up.

Naruto finished, "We're gonna kick ass and take names! And quite frankly, I don't give a damn about the names."

Wapol, tired of being talked down to and ignored shouted out as he pointed his arm-cannon once more at the tower with Luffy and the Jolly Roger. "If you want to protect that flag so much, then so be it!"

Sanji tsked as he had enough of the plus-sized king and began running forward to kick the man into next week. Unfortunately, at that moment, his earlier injuries acted up as his body jerked in place. Kureha, noticing this sighed in annoyance.

"Sounds like he put out his back. Not surprising considering how much he's been running around with those injuries…" She then leaped forward and gave a powerful kick to the swirly eyebrow pirate's back calling out, **"Doctor Stop!"**

Sanji gave a strangled cry of pain as he crashed into the snow and Kureha placed her foot on him to prevent him from moving. Wapol just laughed at his enemies seemingly pick each other off while Naruto just sweatdropped.

 _'See, its things like this that, that people assume you're a witch doctor,'_ Naruto mentally sighed before his ears twitched and he turned to see Chopper charging at the distracted tyrant. The young Devil's Fruit user smirked as his normally somewhat timid brother taking the initiative. While Chopper was no pushover thanks to all the training the two have done over the years, the reindeer would often second guess himself when fighting and it would normally take Naruto's encouragement for him to really get into it. This time though, it seemed that it was thanks to the rookie pirate captain encouraging Chopper to take action. 'Maybe…being a part of his crew wouldn't be so bad for either of us.'

Chopper, still in his Heavy Point, leaped forward and swung his fist at the corrupt tyrant. "CUT IT OUT!" he roared.

However, before he could make contact, both Kuromarimo and Chess went into guard positions and were able to stop the human reindeer's blow. This didn't deter Luffy in the slightest as he cheered on, "Now we're talkin'! GET 'EM REINDEER!"

Luffy then slammed the broken flag into place on the broken tower as he got ready to see one of his potential crewmates fight. Meanwhile, Kureha chuckled as she stood on top of an out cold and foaming at the mouth Sanji, saying, "Looks like we get to see the fruits of my brat's training. I can't wait to see the strength of their spirits."

The two henchmen laughed as they stared at the two Zoan users. "It's useless you know. As long as the two of us are here, you won't lay a finger on His Majesty!" Kuromarimo gloated.

"Quite the curious oddities you two are," Chess added, a condescending smile on his fat lips. Turning to Chopper and then Naruto he said, "You must be the abominable snowman the villagers were making a fuss about long ago, and you must be that mutant Laphan that was chased out of Bighorn seven years ago? How sentimental; two monsters, scorned by humanity, take comfort in the fact that they're outcasts hated by all!"

"Makes you want to puke how sickeningly sweet it is," Kuromarimo picked up. "What possible reason could two freaks like you have for wanting to save this kingdom!? Absolutely ridiculous!"

"Shut up!" Chopper snapped.

"Even if the rest of the world turns against us, the two of us will always get each other's backs with the Doc's flag-waving right behind us!" Naruto added.

"What do you mean the rest of the world? Don't I count?! I'm your friend!" Luffy declared as he used the flag as a springboard to fly down to the courtyard with the force of a meteorite. Laughing, he picked himself up out of the small crater in the snow he made.

"S-Straw Hat, are you alright!?" Chopper asked in concern.

"Don't worry 'bout me, I'm rubber," Luffy said in a carefree tone.

"That could explain how he bounces back so fast," Naruto quipped as he remembered how the older boy seemed to shrug off any damage he received a minor inconvenience at best.

"Rubber!?" Chopper gaped in shock, honestly still trying to wrap his mind around the pirate's strange abilities.

"You two think you can handle those guys?" Luffy asked while pointing to both Chess and Kuromarimo as they were getting up from his impromptu landing.

Chopper scoffed, "I can take care of 'em without breaking a sweat!"

Naruto gave a playful glare at his brother, "Not if I beat 'em first bro!"

The two gave each other a competitive glare before both laughed and Chopper said, "It's a good thing there's two of them, huh?"

"Yeah. Are you okay taking care of the afro obsessed weirdo while I get the fat lipped archer? I figure my speed would be best dealing with that guy's archery while Mr. Afro there seems like more of a close-range fighter," Naruto suggested.

Chopper nodded and said, "Alright!" before turning and looking at his opponent with a glare.

"Then it's decided," Luffy said with a wide grin on his face as he got into a ready stance and looked to where Wapol was standing. "I'll take on the big-mouthed hippo then!"

"Rowdy little punk!" Wapol spat back.

Chopper got into a ready stance as he declared, "I won't hesitate anymore!"

"Ha! These stupid brats think they can beat us!" Chess grinned as he readied his bow.

"Get a load of these idiots!" Kuromarimo agreed as he popped the spikes out of his gloves.

Back with Sanji and Kureha, the chef was struggling feebly under the doctrines foot and gasping out for her to let him fight. "Stay put and enjoy the show. Push yourself anymore and you won't be able to walk again, y'hear!? Don't worry," at this, she gained a proud smirk and continued, "My boys can handle themselves just fine."

Chopper yelled in a loud voice, "My name is Tony Tony Chopper! The world's greatest doctor gave me that name! Even if the Doc would forgive you brutes, I'll never forgive you for mocking him!"

"Well said, bro!" Naruto cheered as he stepped forward, once again adjusting his gloves and said with pride, "The name's Naruto Uzumaki! And me and my bro are going to live up to the Doc's expectations, so get ready to be blown away by our awesomeness!"

"The one being blown away is you two monsters!" Kuromarimo grinned and Chess followed up with, "Get ready to die!"

"Wait!" Naruto shouted out before the true battle could begin.

Ignoring the strange looks he was receiving from his brother, mentor, and Straw Hats, the blonde pulled out a slip of paper from his jumpsuit's pocket. Wapol and his men looked confused for a second, Wapole came to his own conclusion on what Naruto was doing and laughed boisterously. "Ha! If you are reading your last rights before your untimely death, that will make you the smartest of your companions. Not that it'll save you!"

Naruto shook his head, "It's nothing like that. I've just had some things I wanted to say to you over the years and I wrote them down so I could remember them." Clearing his throat, Naruto started reading off the list to the banished king, "You're so fat, that when you cut yourself shaving, marshmallow fluff comes out. You're so fat, your stretch marks spell out your name: Big Bitch. You're so fat, there is a Richter scale made especially for your footsteps. You're so fat – "

Luffy and Kureha were laughing so hard at this point that they were wheezing while Chopper was smothering his giggles with his hooves unsuccessfully. Even Sanji had a huge grin at the tyrant's expense, despite his painful position. Meanwhile, both Chess and Kuromarimo were staring at the boy with bulging eyes and mouths dropped so low they reached their knees. Wapol himself had multiple veins decorating his forehead as his eyes became shadowed at the insolent child who dared mock him.

"KILL HIM! I WANT HIM IN A STEW RIGHT NOW!" Wapol screamed in rage.

"Yes, Sire! The two goons shouted in unison as they charged forward.

Naruto and Chopper spared a split second glance at each other before nodding and heading off towards their opponents.

* * *

Chopper vs. Kuromarimo

Chopper glared across the snowy landscape at the afro decorated guard while he stood defiantly in his Brain Point, making the fight look like a classic David and Goliath battle for those unaware of Chopper's true abilities.

"Gahaha! Oh, this is rich, I take on the pipsqueak monster while Chess deals with the mutant bunny! This'll be over so fast it'll make your head spin!" the villainous man chortled as he got into a boxing stance with his spiked, furry gloves.

Chopper gave a smirk of his own that didn't reach the anger in his eyes as he shot back at the man, "Don't underestimate me! Both my brother and I have been training ourselves to the bone these past five years just for a fight like this. While I'm not the same level as Naruto when it comes to fighting, I'll still take you down in three minutes!" he declared.

Kuromarimo laughed as he charged, "Ha! You think you can defeat me, let alone in five minutes?! I'll make you eat those words, freak!" he then took out multiple hairballs and launched them at the reindeer as he ran with a shout of, **"Afro Storm!"**

Chopper quickly went into his Walk Point and easily dodged each and every one of the thrown projectiles. Compared to fighting monsters like the Laphans, Naruto, and even the doctrine when she was in a mood, this was child's play. He then went into his Heavy Point and did a full-on bull-rush to the man.

Instead of looking concerned, Kuromarimo scoffed as he prepared his spiked gloves. "So what if you can transform!? That just means you're a Zoan Devil's Fruit user like Dalton! You're a reindeer-human!"

"No, I'm a human-reindeer!" Chopper corrected as he drew closer.

"What's the difference?! I've already memorized the three forms you can take, so I'm ready for you!" he sneered as he then pulled off his left glove to show that it was attached to a long chain which he then began to swing above his head like a flail. He then let it fly at Chopper with a cry of, **"Afro Morningstar!"**

However, instead of ramming into Chopper, the reindeer merely went into his Jump Point and easily jumped over the attack and sailed through the air on strong yet remarkably nimble legs. Kuromarimo shouted in shock as he had assumed that Chopper would have been limited to the standard three forms that Zoan users have. However, the evil man was not to be deterred as he popped off his other glove that was also on a chain and shot it at Chopper in midair. Chopper didn't panic as he went into his Guard Point and merely shrugged off the attack as it bounced off his now thick fur before he landed safely on the ground.

"What the hell is this!? A Zoan user should be limited to only three forms! What the hell are you!?" the villain cried.

"Through five years of research, I was able to create a drug that allowed me to alter the wavelengths emitted by each form! At first, I needed to use the drug and could only use the new forms for three minutes, but thanks to countless research and training these past five years and can access all but one without the drug, giving me several additional transformations!"

Kuromarimo (and an unseen Luffy) looked shocked at that bit of news but the former government official scoffed, "So what if you have a few extra forms?! I'll crush you regardless!"

He pulled his gloves back onto his hands and charged towards Chopper with a strong right jab. In response, Chopper shifted into his Arm Point and was easily able to catch the man's fist, his now bulging muscles barely straining from the effort.

"It's not just for show," Chopper grinned and jerked his fist upwards, sending Kuromarimo screaming into the air. As he came falling down, Chopper put both his hooves together and at the last moment, sent a devastating blow to the man's solar plexus with a cry of, **"Cloven Diamond!"**

A diamond-shaped imprint appeared on Kuromarimo's torso as he spat up blood and skidded across the snow with his eyes rolled back into his head. Turning back into his Brain Point, Chopper called over to the downed man, "Get up! I know that little love tap wasn't enough to take you down, so let's continue so I can kick your ass!"

 _'Naruto's definitely been influencing that boy,'_ Kureha thought from where she sat upon Sanji before shrugging and popping open a new bottle of sake, _'Eh, beats the little crybaby he is most of the time. Though if he gets that rabbit brat's disrespect, I'm gonna turn both their guts into garters.'_

It took a few seconds but eventually, Kuromarimo was able to drag himself up onto his feet, giving another cough of blood as he did so. "Kaff! You-you stupid, insignificant brat!" He growled as he finally stood up straight and glared daggers at Chopper. "I'm the magistrate of Drum Island! The highest level of law bar the king himself!" he then pulled out several more hairballs, except each of these also had spiked blades on them. "I will not be mocked by a freakish tanuki bastard!"

With that, he threw the spiked hairballs at Chopper, who by using a mix of Brain, Walk, and Jump Points was successfully able to dodge all the attacks. The man then grabbed two large battle axes…from his afro?...and then charged at Chopper while swinging in deadly arcs. However, thanks to Chopper's training and Kuromarimo's injuries, Chopper was easily able to gain some distance from the man.

'This has gone on long enough,' Chopper decided before going into his Brian Point and placed his hooves in front of himself like he was looking through a telescope. **"Scope."**

Kuromarimo, thinking that this was his chance, went charging once more. "Ha! So scared of me now you can't attack, eh?!" he crowed as he continued to swing his axes, planning on decapitating the monster for his king. However, Chopper was easily able to dodge even as he focused on finding the afro guy's weak point.

"I found it, the chin!" Chopper muttered in triumph at spotting the man's weakness.

"What are you blabbering about?! Just accept your fate and die like the monster you are!" Kuromarimo cried as he prepared to use all the weapons in his arsenal to end the little-furred menace once and for all.

However, when he went to swing, he kicked up some snow that momentarily blocked his vision. When the snow cleared, Chopper was nowhere to be seen. "W-where did he?!" Kuromarimo looked around frantically.

"Hiiiiiii-" a sound started up behind him and he turned around, only to receive a powerful, hooved kick right in the chin courtesy of a Kung Fu Point Chopper. "YYYAAAAHHHHHH!" Chopper finished his battle cry as Kuromarimo went flying back once more, this time out cold.

Chopper got into a battle stance as his now wide mouth curled up into a grin. "Figures a creep like that has a glass jaw, Ha-Cha!" he mocked before going back into his Brain Point and turned to see how his younger brother was doing.

Approximate battle time: Two Minutes, Fifteen Seconds.

* * *

Naruto vs. Chess

Naruto practically yawned as he easily dodged the arrows shot at him by Chess. 'This is so dull,' Naruto thought glumly as he sidestepped an arrow aimed at his head while pulling out a carrot from his medical bag. 'I honestly can't believe these guys held Drum Kingdom in terror for so long. Hope Chopper is having more fun than me.'

Chess, misinterpreting the situation, laughed, "Heh, is that all you can do, bunny boy? Dodge?"

Naruto stuck the carrot into his mouth and said in a dry tone, "Actually, I was waiting to see if you'd pull some neat trick that would actually give me a challenge, but if all you can do is shoot arrows then I'm severely disappointed."

Chess grew several tic marks at this comment and started shooting arrows at a machine gun pace. Naruto continued to dodge, seemingly getting faster as time went on and even called out mocking phrases like, "Missed me!", "Oh, so close!", "You're getting warmer!", "Nope, colder!"

Chess growled at the Devil's Fruit user who mocked him. With a flick of the wrist, he pulled out fifty arrows at the same time and notched them all in at once before aiming up. "Dodge this, brat!" he cried as he let the arrows go, causing them to blot out the sun momentarily before they began their descent back to earth.

Naruto, instead of looking worried, actually had an excited gleam in his eyes and he got his hands into familiar poses. "Now we're talking!" he laughed as the arrows drew near.

His hands moved like a blur as he called out, **"Million Rabbit Peace!"**

As the name implies, what looked like a million 'Rabbit Peace' shot out and each one intercepted one of the arrows, shattering them like toothpicks. The resulting shockwave then blew the debris away from the rabbit boy's body, so that by the time he was finished it looked as though Naruto was standing in a perfect circle surrounded by shattered arrows.

Chess, eyes bulging, gasped, "Th-That's impossible! W-what kind of monster are you!?"

Naruto gave the man a savage grin as he took the carrot out of his mouth and declared, "I'm the type of monster you should never tick off, you fat lipped golem!"

"'Fat lipped golem?!'" Chess grit out through clenched teeth. "You stupid bunny boy! I'm going to flay you alive!" he shot out as he brought out another handful of arrows, but these ones were lit on fire. "BURN!" Chess cried as he shot the hellstorm above the Zoan User.

Naruto smirked, "Get your animals right, ass clown! I'm a RABBIT!" He then drew his right leg back and then with a cry of **"High Speed Winning Kick!"** The force of the kick sent up a large amount of wind and snow, crashing into the arrows and simultaneously putting out their fire and knocking them off course. He then said, "Hey, since you like shooting things at people so much, why don't you try this on for size? Jet Carrot!"

With that, Naruto took the carrot that he'd been munching on and hurled it at high speeds at the former Minister of Defense dodging for cover. Unlike Naruto, who prided himself on his speed, Chess was too slow and wasn't able to fully get out of the carrot's trajectory. The ballistic vegetable snagged him by the top of his jester hat, tearing it off.

"Pfft! BWAHAHAHA! Oh man, you are the textbook definition of 'pinhead'!" Naruto howled with laughter while clutching his sides when he saw that Chess' head was bald and narrow underneath his cap.

"Y-you shut up!" a blushing Chess stammered as he quickly retrieved his hat and placed it back on his head to show it had a hole in its center.

Naruto sighed happily as he wiped a tear from his eye. "Ah, I needed that." He then smirked as he whispered, **"Running Rabbit!"** and vanished in a blur of speed.

Naruto moved so fast that most people wouldn't be able to keep up with him, the only sign of his movements were the footprints that appeared randomly in the snow. He then reappeared in front of Chess with his arm pulled back for a 'Rabbit Peace' to the face. "GOT YAH!" Naruto cried out.

However, a dark grin made its way to Chess' wide mouth and said, "Actually, I've got YOU!"

Suddenly, there was a shadow surrounding the henchman and Naruto looked up only for his eyes to widen as a rain of arrows came down on him. The arrows were so numerous that they blocked Naruto from view. Ignoring the worried cries from both the Straw Hats and Kureha, Chess laughed at his apparent victory.

"Ah-Ha! You triggered my trap, fool! I fired those arrows up into the air while you were being distracted by my earlier assaults! I WIN!" Chess cheered.

However, before he could fully celebrate, the man felt two gloved hands grab his ankles. Shakily, he looked down to see Naruto's arms reaching out of the ground to grab him like misshapen plants. **"Rabbit Hole!"** he heard the rabbit man's voice through the dirt and snow before he was violently pulled downward.

"Gyah!" Chess cried as he was pulled up to his neck in the dirt, unable to move much less break out.

Once the archer was good and trapped, Naruto popped back out of the ground like he was swimming and patted off the dirt from his clothes. He then took out another carrot to snack on as he grinned down at his opponent. "Huh, I've seen some ugly plants in my time, but your mug takes the cake," he quipped as he sat down in the snow some twenty feet from the trapped Chess.

"Let me out, you brat! How'd you even get below me!?" Chess bellowed as he struggled in the frozen dirt.

Naruto jerked a thumb over his shoulder to where he'd been standing earlier to show a nice sized hole that'd been dug into the ground and was surrounded by arrows from Chess' assault. "When you set up that trap, I used the arrows as a cover to burrow underground. Digging through the snow and dirt is kind of old hat for me after all this time, so it was no biggie. I then tunneled underneath your location, which I was able to pinpoint thanks to your loud bragging, and you can probably guess the rest." He then tugged at his jumpsuit that had a few small scratches in it but no wounds on him besides maybe a paper cut or two. "Congratulations, by the way on scuffing up my clothes. Besides Chopper and doctrine, no one's actually been able to get the drop on me in years." Naruto's ear twitched, causing him to look up before looking back to Chess with a mischievous grin. "Speaking of which…" Naruto then pointed above Chess' head.

"What are you - ?" Chess began looking up before letting out a scream of fright.

He was then knocked out cold as a Laphan fell from the sky (who was also knocked out with a peace symbol-shaped bruise on his cheek) and landed right on top of his exposed head, acting like a hammer would a nail. Naruto snickered at the irony that one of the Laphans he beat earlier that day would decide to 'drop in' at that moment. He then stood up and bent backward to give his back a crack and he said, "Well, that was a good way to work off some steam. Now to see King Fat Ass get his clock cleaned."

Approximate battle time: Two Minutes, Ten Seconds.

* * *

AN: Hey all! WHAZZZZZUUUUUUPPPPPPP!? (Dodges fire from critics) Jeez, nobody appreciates the classics anymore! Anyway, as stated by my good buddy **Dimension Distorter** last chapter, this is a joint project between the two of us with this chapter being largely written by me, whereas the next will be written by him. As such, you may notice a difference in our writing styles, but we are both adamant on giving you the best damn story you have ever seen! Now you may notice my chapters are a bit shorter than **Dimension Distorter**. That's because, to be perfectly honest, he's better at writing details than I am. I can get from point A to point Z, but he can write out all the letters in between. Hope this isn't inconvenient for anyone!

Now, in answer to a question I'm sure each of you has asked themselves at least once in passing: why place Naruto in the story? Sure, we could have just made it purely Shiina's character for this story, but to be perfectly frank, both of the writers love Naruto and have a more comfortable time writing his personality. While our version of Naruto will display many Shiina like traits, the majority of his personality will be based off Naruto, as well as giving more of an idea on how to write his human form since Shiina in his manga rarely took human form anyway. In short, it is just easier to write the character using Naruto, and it is a very original take on what possible Devil's Fruit powers he could have.

Next up will be the conclusion of the Drum Island Arc and the beginning of the Alabasta Arc! Be ready to get your minds blown, but until then READ and REVIEW!

P.S. To Robdor Peltan, who commented on the last chapter I have to say this: No shit it isn't about the Kamui Fruit! The name of the story is 'Rabbit Run', which basically TELLS you the nature of Naruto's powers in it. While I appreciate that you are interested in one of my challenges, please don't insult a friend of mine who is doing a different challenge. It makes you seem like kind of a dick. No offense.

Also to those people who decide to bash this or any of the stories written on this site as anonymous guests I have this that I want to say to you for a while: Stop being a little bitch and use your actual account if you got a problem with how we write our stories! And don't just say something like 'this story sucks' or some B.S. like that, give us actual, HELPFUL, critique or don't review at all! Its not our fault if you don't like the story, so just don't read the F'N thing! All of us are on this website write purely for the enjoyment of writing, not to win a Pulitzer or something so stop complaining that our stories aren't professional material. Thank you.

POV Switch

Wow. Good God, **mellra** , thank you for your imput. That is GREATLY appreciated. Now, I think it is time for my OWN input. One thing… mainly in regards to the whole "Chopper being strong early on" thing. Jesus, I have no idea where to begin. First and foremost…to any bitch who KEEPS bitching about how that making Chopper (Why Chopper specifically? Is it because of Monster Point?) strong as hell early on is going to "ruin" the story because he has "nothing" to improve on….stop. Fucking…stop. I'm sure to those of you that do this…um…you AREN'T authors yourselves….are you? No, I thought not. And that's most of you guests who's "reviews" I delete the fuck out of because that's the power authors have. To delete reviews that aren't made on a real account. Because if you DID have REAL accounts, I or **mellra** could personally tell you instead of bashing you in the open about how WRONG you are. And God help those who DO have real accounts because THOSE reviews can't be deleted. You do not have the RIGHT to say that I or **mellra** has NOT thought about this story through! How would YOU know, especially based on ONE chapter!? The FIRST chapter at that! When someone pours all of their heart into writing they can't do anything BUT try to wonder what would be appropriate and what wouldn't be for the story. What's realistic and what isn't. Why and how this could happen and vice-versa for those that shouldn't happen because it might mess up the story flow.

No, ass-fucks like you, who SAY you're going to tell others how awful someone's story is because YOU don't like it, don't have _any_ right to say shit if you don't understand how hard this work is. We don't just put words to "paper" and post. Even if this shit is all AU, creating these scenarios is hard. Even harder when there are DRASTIC changes. And YOU guests don't decide when the story is awful. That's our responsibility for us authors to know when we fucked up. That's why there are people who re-write their stories when they've progressed their skills compared to when they started or feel that nothing in the original flowed like it should.

Anyway, in case some of you have forgotten, Chopper isn't fucking _invincible!_ The fuck!? He can STILL get his ass majorly whupped by DOZENS of enemies! Fuck, if you put him up against a Logia Devil Fruit user than that's it! He's done! He couldn't TOUCH them to begin with and those fuckers can regenerate!

I said he'd be able to own Kumadori…but so could Luffy, Sanji, Naruto and Zoro! Kumadori isn't even all that uber powerful, even by Cipher Pole 9 standards! Yes, he's still gonna be a threat but Chopper isn't even going to have ALL that much of a hard time because he has more abilities to work with. The main reason he got beaten around before was because he needed Arm Point and with 2 Rumble Balls he kept fucking himself up with random transformations and getting fucked up by Kumadori. But Jambra, Kaku and Lucci would still DESTROY his ass! Aokiji, Kisaru, Moria, Crocodile, Eneru, Kuma… ALL of them can still take him out! If we made him as strong as Luffy then that WOULD be making him OP too fast. But he isn't! He's just stronger on his own terms. Monster Point doesn't really mean shit if THAT'S the only thing you guys are going off on. He still can ONLY hold that form for 3 minutes before he reverts and his body is too tired to work properly for a bit. And how long do all of these fights last for? Especially as we escalate in the story-line? Sure as hell longer than 3 minutes, right? Monster Point, even if it's controlled, is still a trump card and you don't just bust that shit out ALL the time whenever you feel like it. Especially with obvious limitations after it's done.

And just because he has all his Points NOW doesn't mean that he isn't going to need to improve over the 2 year timeskip. Does he have all of the medical knowledge that he learned in that MASSIVE library? No? Oh my god, I thought not. Does he have any of the newer skills that **mellra** and I plan to give him? What? No again? Shit, looks like you "guests" are at two strikes. I could go on and on but I'm sure you all got the message.

To those of you who love this story, I swear to God, the two of us are going to do everything that we can to keep you as entertained as possible. And to spoil something, NO Davy-Back fight. We're serious. Naruto or not, that Arc was just…dumb. Entirely not needed. And what would be the point? There isn't anything significant having to do with it.

Now for Naruto…actually, this is for both him and Chopper. Yeah, they did the whole _One Punch Man_ training. No, they aren't ANYWHERE near as strong as Saitama. If they were half as strong then they would be ending their fights in 2 Punches instead of 1. I'm VERY sure that's half of Saitama's strength. I only used that as a training basis because I liked the idea, and it's a VERY good way to build up the body. I mean it. Naruto, even as a furry (Get your minds out of the gutter) is built as fuck under that track suit. Same with Chopper in Heavy and Arm Point. But come on. This is the _One Piece_ universe where motherfuckers train their asses off even HARDER than Saitama yet DON'T have his Absolute Strength, Speed, Endurance, and Perception. Seriously, those are real physical powers. Go to Super Power Wiki and check them out. But they are powerful in their own rights but not strong enough to one-shot someone. Come on. Even the creator _himself_ said that Saitama is just a parody hero of all anime protagonists. So much so that even the people in his OWN universe don't believe that his method of obtaining such power is real. Why can't Goku one-shot _anyone_? Because he's a legit anime hero. Not a parody one like Saitama.

Back on Naruto, I'd say he's…eh…..between Zoro and Luffy in terms of strength. Though he's definitely much faster than them. And in the future….WAY in the future, he'll be Luffy's equal. And yes…even when Luffy uses 4th Gear: Pound Man. Naruto will be able to match that shit. It's mainly him being in his rabbit form that makes him so strong. Bench pressing trees, remember? And again, the Saitama thing doesn't work for him either. But since he's been training harder than Chopper he's got more fighting skills and once that 2 Year timeskip comes around, he'll be….I can't even think of a word for the destruction. I guess by THEN you could say OP….but fuck. The Straw Hats were OP in their own rights after the timeskip too, so it doesn't really count.

Fuck. I've really went all out on my part of the AU. But I've had to say what I said or others won't chill. Frankly if you like the story, cool. If not…then leave. No one will be mad. Not EVERY story is for everyone. But don't fucking review and say that you don't like it and won't read it. That left a VERY bad taste in my mouth when **Robdor Peltan** did when ALL he had to do was backspace. That's just a very rude thing that I'm sure no author likes. So if you don't want me to PM you too about that kind of bullshit (With me asking _why_ you reviewed with a damn "I'm quitting this story" note") then just don't….do that. And don't do that when you don't even KNOW if this, or any other story you read, has potential. It's not fair to judge the early stages of things. They need to develop and development takes time.

Thank you. I've said my piece. Now It'll be a while before I make Chapter 3. I've got other shit to write, but I'll try to at least squeeze in bits and pieces of this.


	3. The Life of a Pirate

Whoa. I never expected this story to get the publicity it's gotten so far. I mean, I understand. The knowledge of another NarutoxOne Piece is amazing but the idea of his biggest power is turning into a rabbit is strange. Me and **mellra** honestly wanted to do this story just to appease ourselves because of how much we love 'Oumagadoki Zoo' and I guess we kinda wanted to share that love in as badass of a way we could think of. But we like that people are actually taking a liking to it and we'll do our best to brainstorm and try to keep it Naruto and Chopper relevant and diverge from canon when we can. I mean I had these guys go through ALL of that training so they should be showing it off down the line. Not to mention fanfiction is so you _don't_ have to read everything you could just watch by yourself, right?

Chapter 3:

 **The Life of a Pirate**

Naruto, Chopper, and Kureha were looking up. Why were they looking up? Because something had crashed through one of the towers of the castle with a very noticeable crash. What was this something? Well, it was actually a some _one_ and imagine their surprise when they found that it was none other than Wapol, who was actually looking pretty worse for wear with Luffy having climbed up through the roof and stretched his arms a ridiculous length far behind him. Not just 10 minutes ago Luffy and Sanji raced (Well crawled in Sanji's case) into the castle with a fury as Wapol had managed to slip away from Luffy since he was drooling and was star-struck at the two Zoan brother's abilities in their battles. They only made him want them to join his crew even more than ever and now nothing was going to stop him from doing so. Anyway, since Nami was still in the castle when Wapol went inside they rushed to help her but of course Luffy was the one doing everything.

Sanji hated that he was in such a useless position.

Naruto used his ridiculous hearing to know about some of what transpired in there. Wapol did find Nami and accused her of being a Straw Hat yet she tried to play if off to make it seem like she was an ordinary patient. He played her in return and pretended to accept her claim before turning on her and giving chase. Naruto didn't know what happened after that but apparently Wapol found a way to make himself skinny from what Luffy said.

However, in the hell he did that he should've _always_ been doing it, at least to save himself the embarrassment of Naruto's jokes. Matter of fact, Naruto was glad he didn't otherwise him writing that list would've been for nothing. There was apparently more scrambling around, one thing led to another, and now here they were with Luffy about to blow Wapol away with whatever technique he was going to use. Wapol was screaming at the top of his lungs for the rubber-man to stop and that he'll give him a high position in his army but it was more-than-past too late for _him_ to beg for anything.

" **GUM-GUUUUUUM…."**

"Dr," Chopper said to himself. Naruto and Kureha knew immediately that he was speaking of their foster father. "This…this kingdom…Drum Kingdom, it's…"

Luffy's arms flung back towards him as he yelled at the top of his lungs while Wapol did the same.

"FINE! I'LL MAKE YOU VICE-KING!"

Chopper's hooves curled a little to resemble fists as best they could. "It's…about to fall!"

" **BAZOOKAAAAAAAA!"** Luffy leaned back as his palms blasted into Wapol's abdomen and even destroying the stone that trapped him. In a mix of pain and anguish, Wapol was sent soaring far, far, FAR, away from the mountain top. He looked as if he was even soaring away from Drum Island entirely which had to have been Luffy's plan since he promised the man that he was going to put everything into kicking his butt. Luffy gripped the stone before he fell backward, watching the direction where Wapol took off until he could only make out a black dot before it became a sparkle in the distance. The Straw Hat boy gave his usual large grin before he stood in the broken part of the pillar he made and put his hat back on his head.

Naruto gave a light hop in the air and fist-pumped at Luffy's victory, shouting his elation. "That was so AWESOME! He just blasted that jerk away like it was nothing! I'm so jealous! I wanted to do that!"

Kureha chuckled and grinned at the rabbit boy's enthusiasm and the irony at what transpired. "So the Drum Kingdom was ultimately defeated by the skull and crossbones. Heheheheheheh!"

Chopper looked to Naruto, who looked back with his smile still present. "It's…it's all over. It's _really_ over this time…isn't it?"

Naruto took a gloved hand and placed it atop Chopper's hat. With a smirk, he pushed it down some so it covered Chopper's eyes and made him yelp in surprise from the action before he pushed it back up with his hooves and gave a light glare to his younger brother. But it didn't stay long because Naruto still had that smile. "What do _you_ think? I'd say Wapol is finished…for good this time." His grin soon dropped as his right ear twitched and lightly turned behind him as he heard the sound of…no way. "Wait a second, that's…"

Chopper looked up to him, wondering what he was talking about. "Naruto? What is it?"

"The ropeway…I can hear it being used." Chopper gasped lightly and Kureha raised an eyebrow. Was the ropeway being used? But it hasn't been active in years and no one ever dared to come up here. Not only for the bad memories the castle held for the village but because the entirety of Drum Island knew that this was where the 'Witch Doctor' lived along with her two 'monster's'. And if it _was_ in use then by who and why?

"Naruto, can you hear how many people are on it?" Naruto shook his head. Kureha then looked to them both. "Alright then, stay out of sight for a moment. We're not sure if Wapol had even more friends in reserve so it'd be nice to get the drop on them if that's the case. If not then we have nothing to worry about."

"Okay." The two said before they hurried to go into the woods and hide behind some trees. They both lightly peaked their heads out to see who was coming up the steps once Naruto heard the ropeway car reach the stopping point. He looked down to Chopper to…oh my god, seriously?

"Chopper. Wrong….way." Naruto deadpanned, making Chopper gasp as he switched his body around to hide behind the tree as poke his face out instead. "Better."

Chopper blushed a bit in embarrassment. "Uh, sorry bro."

"Seriously, you need to grow out of that habit." Naruto began to lightly grind his fangs as he was getting a bit hungry. That's exactly what carrying an easily manageable bag was for. He brought out one of his two lifelines, a carrot, and began to lightly munch on it happily. Now was the time for eating it, not the time for looking cool with it like he usually does. They watched as two guys walked up the stairs, one with mossy-green short hair and the other with black curly hair and long nose. He was also covering behind the other guy ridiculously before Luffy jumped down towards them with fury, thinking they were enemies. The cowardly one screamed loudly while green hair exclaimed Luffy's name.

"Zoro? Usopp?" Luffy said in surprise before he crashed them into the ground.

Naruto's ears twitched as he kept munching on his carrot, having heard their names. Chopper gapped in surprise for some reason which had Naruto look down to his big brother. "What is it, buddy?"

"That green hair guy-"

"I think his name is Zoro, from what Luffy said," Naruto interrupted.

"Yeah, him. The doctorine and I met him earlier…but he was only wearing pants for some reason. He then called the doctorine the 'O' word before she sent him flying."

Naruto gave a sweatdropped as the three guys climbed out the snow with a woman with blue hair coming up to greet them. Naruto kept his eyes on Zoro, imagining the man shivering his ass off while calling Kureha…old. He shivered just thinking of saying that about the woman since she had some kind of sick sense for that. "What an idiot." He said. Chopper just agreed while they went back to paying attention to the exchange between them, though the long-nose person, Usopp apparently, was blabbering about some nonsense that no one cared about. But then they saw one of the last people they expected to see come up the stairway.

"N-Naruto…is…is that…" Chopper wondered, his voice full of surprise.

"Y-yeah," Naruto said with a nod as he gave him a look over. It had been a while since they both met him but they remembered Dalton's face easily. He was battered and very wounded from what they could see, especially with how he held his chest in pain. They remembered how he stopped the both of them from attacking Wapol with his own Devil Fruit powers. A bull-man he is and a strong one at that. They haven't really met him personally after all of these years but they most definitely haven't forgotten about him. They overheard his conversation with Luffy.

"And his two henchmen, what about them?" Dalton asked Luffy, referring to Wapol's lackeys.

"Oh, well the reindeer and the rabbit guy beat them up." Was the rubber man's reply.

Dalton blinked as his mind tried to make sense of what he meant. "What, those two…a reindeer and rabbit guy?"

Luffy looked over to Usopp and called out, "Oh, hey, Usopp! I made two new friends, you gotta meet 'em! Get this, they're a reindeer and a rabbit guy!"

Usopp, finally stopping his rambling about doing whatever he was talking about, looked over to Luffy in confusion. He raised his goggles from his eyes to get a better look at him. "Reindeer and rabbit guy?" Dalton slowly began to remember two people that he met years ago who fit that description but got his actual answer when he heard the sound of snow crunching a bit away from him. He gasped when he saw Chopper peeking his head out from a tree while Naruto stood out completely from his, keeping a hand on the bark. Both him and Chopper gave Dalton weary looks but knew that he meant well, so they didn't feel all that hostile towards him. It was the others that they weren't so sure about entirely. More-so for Chopper since he never knew how to deal with meeting people.

"It _is_ you two," Dalton said in amazement. Chopper tensed but Naruto gave a small smirk to the big guy, showing off a few sharp fangs along with his incisors. "Blue-nose…and Carrots. You two never gave up, did you? You both still kept fighting. Believing in what this country could become." He fell to his knees, placed his hands in the snow and bowed to the both of them. His heart swelling up with overwhelming joy and the only way for that joy to be expressed was from shedding tears of relief. Relief from all of the pent up anger and sadness that he had been harboring on his shoulders from the hopelessness of this country under Wapol's tyranny in the past. "And now thanks to you…this kingdom can finally be reborn."

Naruto's ears twitched as he heard the faint sounds of multiple footsteps coming up from the ropeway. Dozens of people at least and he knew that the human-overload would probably be a bit _too_ much for Chopper. It's even been years since he himself personally had any other human contact. The few times he, Chopper, and Kureha went to different towns as a full unit, he always had a hat on and brought up his scarf which concealed his face entirely. Granted, there was nothing Naruto could do about his tail but that was never much of an issue. Though he quickly shuffled over to his brother and stood in front of him as a form of protection. Chopper felt a mix of relief and embarrassment for Naruto's protectiveness since he was supposed to be the one to lead by example based on principle alone. So, building as much courage as he could, he stepped from behind to tree to stand beside Naruto. Then he saw all of the humans toting guns or swords and his courage took a pretty steep drop. The reindeer scurried behind Naruto's legs with most of his body poking out. A sigh and a few taps on his hat from Naruto made him switch around so, once again, his head and face stood out. The villagers all had little side comments once they saw the two.

"Wha-what are those strange creatures near the trees?"

"The…the short one almost looks like a reindeer! Hiding behind a…shorter and slimmer Laphan? With clothes!?"

"No, you're wrong! They're…some kind of monsters!"

"Weird, though, that skinny Laphan. I could swear I've seen it before."

All of the villagers got tensed and gripped their firearms a bit tighter, while Chopper shook a little. Naruto gripped his left hoof and helped him stay calm.

Dalton turned to the villagers in shock and declared, "No! Don't shoot them!"

Usopp was already gone as fear overcame any form of logic in his mind. His eyes bugged out while his teeth became comically sharp as he gave a girlish scream. "A YETI AND ONE OF THOSE MONSTER RABBITS THINGS!? SOMEBODY SHOOT THEM!" Chopper only managed to not run away since Naruto's grip on him was tighter. But with the way his body was slightly angled, he was ready to literally spring into action if any form of open hostility was made towards the two of them. Good thing he didn't have to as Luffy gave Usopp a hard crack to the head in anger.

"YOU JERKFACE! THEY AREN'T A YETI AND MONSTER RABBIT, YOU IDIOT! THEY'RE MY NEW FRIENDS!" He screamed at Usopp which had him jerk his head up in surprise.

"THOSE THINGS ARE YOUR FRIENDS!?"

"YEAH, SO DON'T EVEN _THINK_ ABOUT HURTING THEM! I'LL KICK YOUR ASS IF YOU DO!" Luffy directed his rage-filled-face at the villagers, with some having pointed their guns at the two brothers from their own fear on top of Usopp's frightened yell. "AND THAT GOES DOUBLE FOR ALL OF YOU! GOT IT!?"

They all snapped their firearms back and stood in immediate attention, not wanting to incur Luffy's wrath any further. "GOT IT! SORRY ABOUT THAT!" They all screamed in unison. Luffy looked at them for a few more seconds before he sighed and his natural grin adopted his visage.

"That's better," he waved over to Chopper and Naruto, "Heeey! Reindeer and Rabbit Guy! Don't worry about these guys anymore! They won't hurt you! They're my friends, like Nami and Sanji!"

"Naruto?" Chopper's voice was full of uncertainty as his initial fear didn't ease all that much, even with that proclamation from Luffy. He was still nervous about being around so many humans at once. That and they still had weapons of course.

"Don't worry, buddy. I'm sure it's alright now." Naruto said in a low voice as he looked to Chopper with a small smirk. Any previous tension he had was gone and he was sure he wouldn't have to jump into action to protect the both of them. Chopper didn't know why, but seeing Naruto so full of confidence actually helped him a lot. So he too loosened up as they made their way over. The villagers (And Usopp) were still a bit nervous about seeing the two of them walking forward but no one made any sudden moves. Luffy was scary when those he considered his friends were threatened. Naruto and Chopper finally were standing near the group, but mainly in front of Dalton who smiled at the two of them from his position.

"You two…you've done fantastic. You both and Luffy saved our kingdom." He said with a smile on his face. The news surprising the villagers even more but Naruto and Chopper weren't paying them any mind. They just gave light laughs from the praise but performed different actions when expressing it. Naruto gave a large grin (Scaring Usopp with his multitude of fangs) and rubbed the back of his head while Chopper's face was one of pure elation and he danced around.

"Hehe. Well, I wouldn't say _that_. I mean we _were_ awesome…but Luffy blew Wapol out of here. Chopper and I just took down those two bozos."

"THEY CAN TALK!?" Usopp and the village men all exclaimed at once but the two brothers ignored them to the best of their ability. Seriously, what was so surprising about them being capable of speech? Sure, it's not something you actually ever _see_ on the island but you don't see animals like them either.

"But don't think compliments are gonna get you anywhere ya' big jerk~." Chopper's voice was even bubbly as he spoke which had Dalton chuckle and Naruto laugh more at how his brother usually responds to praise.

The villagers gave deadpanned looks and sweatdropped. _'He's not good at hiding his emotions, is he?'_ Luffy laughed along with Naruto at Chopper before the reindeer calmed himself down.

"You say it's not a big deal but not even I could take those two down myself," Dalton admitted which surprised the both of them. So that was why he was so injured? But that also told them something else. Dalton was once one of Wapol's strongest guards, if not _the_ strongest. But if he wasn't able to beat those two himself, yet Naruto and Chopper did it with such ease then…the two looked to each other in surprise at how powerful they had gotten over the years. Dalton tried to stand but he gasped in pain and fell over but Naruto was there to help catch him.

"Whoa. You okay?"

"Dalton!" A girl with blue hair, Vivi, ran over to check on him.

Dalton shook his head to them and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm fine. Just feeling a little drained, that's all. I'll be fine after I rested."

"Hey! You over there!" Everyone turned to see Kureha with her signature grin. The villagers all gasped in fright and exclaimed her name at the same time. "Yeah, it's good to see you too, "she said after a bit of chuckling, "now be useful and take the injured guy to the medical ward. I think my apprentices have done their fair share of pulling their weight."

Chopper rolled his eyes a bit. "Well, she's not wrong."

Zoro got a better look, at Kureha before his eyes widened in shock. "Hey, I recognize her! You're that damn old hag from before!" And half a second later, he was treated to a swift ass-kicking from the good-old, erm, good- _young_ doctorine. A comical bump was on his head with Zoro twitching in the snow. Now _both_ Naruto and Chopper rolled their eyes at the cluelessness of people. If she'll beat you down for calling her old once then she'll do it every time. She definitely scared the pants off of the men that were already afraid of her at the moment.

"Well? Get moving!" She declared.

"YES, MA'AM!" Was the instant reply.

"I suggest you hurry unless you want to be in the same kind of pain this man is."

"Okay. Up you go, big guy." Naruto said as he easily picked up Dalton on his back without showing any form of strain. The villagers, Usopp, and Vivi were shocked to see just how strong the young man was, especially since his arms didn't seem to have any form of noticeable muscle on them. Many of them had tried to help Dalton after he was buried in the snow but even with 5 fully grown men, moving him was difficult. Seeing Zoro carry him with a single hand was mind-blowing and here it is happening again.

Dalton looked down to Naruto and asked, "I'm surprised you can carry me so easily. I'm not exactly a featherweight."

Naruto looked up at him in confusion. "Huh? You serious? You barely weigh anything to me at all. Honestly, if you weren't such a big guy, I'd probably forget that I was carrying you."

"That's amazing," Vivi said in surprise.

"See!? He's really strong!" Luffy said with his signature grin. Even Zoro, who was still pissed at Kureha, was a little impressed at the rabbit. Or rabbit-kid since he sounded young. A teen or pre-teen at best if he had to imagine.

"Zoro I get but how in the heck are _you_ doing that?" Usopp wondered while Naruto shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well, Chopper and I have been training our bodies as hard as we could for five years, every day. I mean we fight Laphan daily and I personally bench press the trees around here so I guess that has something to do with my strength. Though I usually have to break them down or use an old one that isn't too decayed." The fact that he could say that as if he was talking about the weather was staggering. Even Zoro had to re-evaluate his impressions on Naruto to a larger standing, himself never thinking to bench press a tree before. For added measure, everyone turned to the trees that the two brothers were previously standing behind. Most definitely _not_ small things they were and would likely crush anyone else who was under that much weight.

Naruto walked over to the men and placed Dalton with them, having them struggling to help the man as they all worked together. "H-hey! If he's so light to you…then how come you can't carry him instead!?" One of them asked.

Naruto grinned and placed his carrot between his fingers to point it at them. "Like the doctorine said, you came all this way so why not do something useful," he turned to Chopper, "right?"

Chopper gave a grin himself and said, "Who am I to argue with the two of you?"

"THAT'S NOT FAIR!" The men declared while Luffy laughed again.

"You guys crack me up! I can't wait for you to join my crew!" He exclaimed which had Naruto and Chopper give him a deadpanned look.

"We _still_ didn't agree to join, you know? Can't you take a hint?" Chopper asked in an exasperated tone, not wanting to have to deal with this nonsense again. At least, not after him and his brother were being chased up and down the entire castle by Luffy and Sanji.

"Join our crew? Them?" Said Usopp while Luffy nodded as if it was a done deal. Knowing him, it pretty much was even though Naruto and Chopper didn't know that. Naruto just waved it off and told them to follow him, Chopper, and Kureha to the medical wing. Kureha tugging along Sanji and Nami who she found from kicking down a stone wall that they were hiding behind. Zoro and Usopp decided to stay outside while Luffy and Vivi headed in with Dalton and everyone else. Luffy mainly so he could get Naruto and Chopper to solidify that they were going to be the new super-strong-animal-monster-doctors on his ship. Chopper helped get Nami into bed by taking his 'Heavy Point' (Scaring the absolute shit out of the villagers and Usopp and just surprising Vivi) while Naruto took a tad of pity on the villagers and got Dalton into bed. Vivi went to Nami's side while Naruto and Chopper both worked on Dalton at once, effortlessly giving him any form of pain killers, mending wounds, and a few dislocations. The efficiency at how they worked was incredibly impressive, even more, so that they didn't even speak to one another as they operated. Just glance at a wound or a communication through their eyes was enough to get their points across.

As for Kureha's treatments on Sanji…

"GAAAAHHH! *CRACK* WRAHHHGAHHHH! AHHHHH! KILL MEEEEEEE!"

…not so subtle…or kind. One of the men damn near pissed himself at hearing Sanji's screams of anguish with a few bouts of Kureha cackling at his expense. Even Naruto and Chopper (Who switched back to 'Brain Point') shivered at the mix of horror-filled wails. Even living with her for all of these years wasn't enough to fully get used to her antics. _All_ of them, which included being used as target practice for her scalpel throwing. When the bloody-murder finally stopped, Kureha strolled into the room with a bottle of booze. "Just as I suspected, his injuries have gotten worse due to overexertion." She then took a large swig while Naruto and Chopper tilted their heads at disbelief at her.

"Doctrine…are you _absolutely_ _positive_ it was only his fault?" Chopper asked first.

"I agree. I'm kinda sure you broke his back in 5 _new_ ways before forcing them all back together." Naruto said after.

Kureha didn't even stop drinking when she gave a light flick of her wrist to produce two scalpels from…somewhere. The Zoan brothers gave horrified gasps at seeing the medical knives as she moved the bottle away from her lips and gave them a light glare, twirling the blades between her fingers. "Are the two of you _actually_ questioning me about _my_ methods? So you kick the shit out of Wapol's cheerleaders and suddenly you grow pairs, is that it?"

"No! No, no, no! You're always right doctorine!" They both exclaimed out of fear. Kureha's creepy grin got even larger at the sight of it. She loved always being able to have fun with her two students. Another wrist flick and the two knives were embedded in the wall over both of their heads each. Naruto's was between his ears while Chopper ducked so it wouldn't go through his hat.

Vivi blinked owlishly at the sight as she leaned in so she could whisper to Nami. "If this is how she treats her students then how does she treat her enemies?"

Nami rose a hand to cover her mouth. "I _honestly_ don't even want to think about that. I mean she threatened to stab _me_ with one of those freaking scalpels and has been stomping the hell out of Sanji's _near-broken_ back. And we're her _patients_."

Kureha's gaze moved over towards them, which had the two jerk away from one another. "Ya' talking about me? Got something you want to say?"

Nami and Vivi rose their hands and shook them rapidly while sweat-dropping. "No, no, you got it wrong! We weren't talking _about_ you!" Nami hastily said while Vivi nodded in agreement.

Kureha wasn't convinced. She placed her unoccupied hand on her hip and leaned forward a little and frowned at them. "Then what _were_ you talking about? Huh!?"

Vivi sputtered a tad, not knowing what would be an appropriate cover up as to not have the 'witch doctor' throw one of those scalpels at her for whatever reason. Leave it to Nami to save the day. "We honestly _were_ wondering how you get to stay so young at this ripe age of yours!" The effect was instant around the whole room as Kureha threw her head back and gave a loud laugh while the others (sans Dalton) went blue in the face at the proclamation. Naruto and Chopper audibly gagged at the thought of putting 'doctorine' and 'young' in the same sentence and context. They didn't mean to gag as it slipped out against their wills but Kureha was so jovial at the moment that she didn't even bother to care…yet.

"Ha! I knew _some_ peoplein this crummy world we lived in wasn't entirely blind to what's in front of them," she struck a pose that tried to make her seem more appealing, "sexy as ever, huh?"

Luffy blinked and pointed at her. "But…but you're an- "in a white and black flash, Luffy was slammed against the opposite wall. Naruto's gloved hand was pressing over his mouth and into his rubbery face as he stopped him from saying something that would get him killed.

"What in the _hell_ is wrong with you!? What were you going to say just now!?" Naruto demanded in a harsh whisper.

"Eee ii un uueee annee." That was what Luffy was able to mumble which didn't make sense to anyone else in the room but Naruto's eyes turned comically white as his hand unconsciously increased in pressure and putting Luffy's head into the wall. For his _veeeeery_ acute hearing was easily able to make out 'she is an ugly granny'. Nami rose an eyebrow and looked to Naruto in confusion.

"Any…particular reason you did that?"

Naruto gave a fake grin as he looked to her. "Haha! N-no reason at all! Just…didn't like the way he was eying me and bro is all! You know, like what happened earlier?"

"WHAT!?" Chopper exclaimed but his nerves were eased when Naruto faced him and mouthed 'I'm lying'. Chopper gave a small sheepish laugh as he instantly forgot that Luffy was an idiot on the grounds that he was most definitely going to call out the doctorine just now. But that claim about Luffy still seeing him and his little brother as nothing but meat instantly had fear override his logic. Naruto was right. He was going to have to work on that down the road.

"Aell un oo ill oin I ew? (Will you two still join my crew?)" Luffy asked Naruto making him look back to the rubber-man.

Naruto rose an eyebrow. "Are you giving us the option to choose?"

"Oo. (No.)" Was Luffy's reply which had Naruto's eye and nose twitch before he growled and released his hand. Luffy plopped onto his feet, not at all phased by being rabbit-handled a few seconds ago.

"How can you be awesome one minute and so infuriatingly stupid in the another?"

"Trust me, if I had the answer to that, then my life would have some semblance of sense again," Nami said with a sigh. Kureha then stepped a bit closer to her, not wanting this banter to continue as she had to say her own piece.

"Okay, enough goofing around kiddies. I'd tell you how I stay so young…but that isn't important right now." She then turned to Dalton. "Dalton, surely you would know where the key to the arsenal is. Isn't that right?"

Her question surprised him but he couldn't show it much because of the medicine he was on to relax his body. The one that Naruto specifically made earlier that day. "The arsenal? Why do you need to get in there?"

"That's really none of your business now, is it?" Kureha replied before taking another swig.

"Wapol always carried that key with him. To 'keep it secure' he said. In which case, the key was likely blown into the sky with him." Dalton answered.

Kureha stopped drinking and frowned a bit. "Oh, really? Is that so? Well, that's a shame."

"Doctorine," Nami spoke as she sat up. The eyes were all now on her as she had a sly smile on her face. "Think we can talk about your fee for treating our crew? Could you wave it? Oh...and could you go ahead and discharge _me_ as well?"

Naruto and Chopper gasped again, thinking Nami immediately lost all of her brownie points with the doctorine from that 'young' comment earlier. Chopper raised his hooves and stepped Nami's way. "Whoa, wait a sec! What are you trying to do here!?" Nami just winked at him and waited for Kureha's answer…and she didn't at all look happy.

"Is that a joke? You should know better than that by now, girlie. For my medical fee, I will be taking _all_ of the cargo and money you have on the ship of yours _and_ you will stay here and recover for _two_ more days!"

Luffy gasped and fell to his knees. "Wha...e-e-everything? Even...EVEN THE MEAT!? PLEASE, NOT MY MEAT! EVERYTHING _BUT_ THE MEAT!" Kureha honestly had no idea how to respond that. The others just sweatdropped (Except Dalton of again).

"What is with you and freaking meat!?" Chopper yelled to Luffy who was still panicking.

"Humans are omnivores, you idiot! OMNIVORES! You can't survive on meat alone!" Naruto yelled too.

In a flash, Luffy was on his feet as his eyes were shadowed over by his hat. "You take that back."

Naruto slowly dragged his gloved hands up his furry face and pulled at his ears in disbelief. He let go of them to rub both of his temples in small circles. "And you wonder why we're so hesitant to join your crew. I'd be surprised if I don't pull my fur out."

"And that grows back quick so that'd be one serious accomplishment," Chopper added as he placed his face in a hoof.

Even though Vivi didn't agree with the part of taking all of their things, she did agree that Nami shouldn't leave before her appointed time. She turned to her with a determined look. "Nami, she's right you know? You need to complete your treatment."

Nami just grinned. "I'm fine, I don't even feel like I'm gonna die anymore."

"That isn't exactly a very convincing reason," Vivi argued back but Nami just kept smiling. There was a jingling sound and she grabbed something from under her blankets and held it out for everyone to see. It was a metal key which dangled from her finger by the key-ring it was attached too.

"The key to the arsenal. This is what you needed, yeah?" Nami gave Kureha a sly look while Naruto and Chopper's eyes went wide at seeing it.

"What!? How!?" Was all Chopper could say. Even Dalton's eyes grew an extra size as he sat up to get a good look at it.

"How did _you_ end up with that key!?" He asked while Kureha gave her a slightly skeptical look but there was a noticeable glimmer of hope in there.

"If that's truly the real one, how'd _you_ get a hold of it!?"

Nami shrugged. "I stole it." As if it was such a simple answer. Kureha didn't seem impressed but Naruto gave a low whistle.

"Those are sure as hell some sticky fingers you got there. Learned that from being a pirate or something?" he asked.

Nami just smirked to him too. "Or something. Not to toot my own horn or anything but I've had _quite_ a few years of picking pockets and swiping the good stuff. Pirates were the easiest, though. Then I became a pirate myself so that kind of skill works with the trade among other things."

Kureha got in her face and glowered. "You sure got some nerve trying to strike a deal with me like this. You really are an unbelievably frustrating little girl you know?" Nami just chuckled someone while Kureha just snatched the key. "Okay then! You don't have to pay my doctor's fee but that's as much as I'm willing to agree too," she grabbed her jacket and walked towards the door, "as a doctor I can't allow you to leave in good conscience. Not for two days."

Nami got upset and held out her hand to Kureha. "Wait a second! In that case, we don't have a deal! Give it back!"

"Are you kidding me!? You'd be the first and only person in history to get _free_ treatment from the doctorine! That alone is a miracle in itself, but you don't go against a doctor's orders no matter what!" Naruto exclaimed angrily taking a bite out of his carrot. If there was something he, Chopper, and Kureha agreed on all the way, it's irritation for when patients think they knew more than the doctors. Sure, she may feel well _now_ but what about later? Why risk a full treatment for later over getting to leave earlier with half-assed work?

"Oh yeah!? Says who!?" She rounded on him.

"Says me, girl!" Kureha asserted as she pointed at Nami, which shut her up quickly. Naruto and Chopper both nodded in agreement as she continued. "I have to leave you alone now and go take care of a few things. If you look in the back room you _might_ find a dresser with one of my coats in it and it's not exactly like I'm posting any guards on you. Also, the young man with the spinal fissure _should_ be well enough to travel by now. But girl, don't you even _think_ about trying to escape! You guys, come with me. I have some heavy lifting for you to do." She addressed to the men who just nodded dumbly while giving a few mumbles of agreements. She and the men walked out of the room and headed to the arsenal, leaving Luffy, Nami, Vivi, Dalton, Naruto, and Chopper. The latter two were completely dumbfounded by what they just heard as their jaws hung.

They blinked as they looked to each other. "Naruto?"

"Yeah, Chopper?"

"What…in the name of hell just happened?"

Nami smirked and rose her arms in a shrug. "It sounded to me that she told us to get her coat, get Sanji and sneak out. Am I right Vivi?"

Vivi was surprised herself but agreed. "I think so. That's what it sounded like to me." With a shrug, Nami got out of bed and headed over to the dresser. "Should I get Sanji?" Vivi asked which had Nami shrug.

"Sure. Though you'll have to dress him too." Nami replied as she rummaged around a bit in the dresser for the coat that Kureha said was in there. She closed the drawer she had opened as she began to look through another while Vivi went to get Sanji's own winter outfit before heading into the room where he was unconscious. Seeing as he wouldn't get another perfect opportunity like this again, Luffy just grinned as he walked over to Naruto and Chopper, who still couldn't believe that the Kureha was going against her own principles like this.

"So Reindeer and Rabbit Guy. You ready to get going?" Luffy asked while the two looked to each other. Chopper in confusion and Naruto in disbelief.

"Going? Where?" Chopper asked Luffy who just kept smiling.

"What are you talking about? With me and my crew since you're both part of it now," he nodded and added, "I wanted to get one doctor before but now I get to have _two_ of them! And they're awesome animals who can kick ass!" He had a starry look in his face which didn't even faze the two brothers. Naruto just sighed with a small smile scratching behind his right ear while Chopper looked a little nervous.

"Guess there's nothing stopping you from trying is there?" Naruto said in an admiring tone with how serious Luffy was about them joining.

"You should just give it up, you two," Nami said, as she found the purple coat and experimentally tried it on. "When he wants someone to join his crew, they join whether they want it or not. I mean I hated pirates with a passion and then didn't want anything to do with them. Zoro was even a pirate hunter before he met Luffy and Sanji…well, he just didn't want to go. Usopp doesn't count since he always wanted to head out to sea. Yet here the three of us are, pirates and proud to be too." Nami turned to the two boys who obviously were surprised at hearing what she said. They previously went against pirates but Luffy had managed to get them to join his crew regardless? They were both tenacious but they had no idea that there was a level of it like that out in the world. "Honestly, even though Luffy can be one hell of an idiot…he's a great guy and we've done nothing but go on crazy and interesting adventures. I don't usually feed into what he's trying to sell but this time…I agree. Having two more reliable crewmates would be great, especially when they're doctors who can also handle themselves in a fight."

Luffy grinned to her and said, "Hey, thanks, Nami! So what do you guys say!? You ready to head off with me!?"

Even though Luffy had gotten off on the wrong foot with them before, they both honestly _did_ want to go with him. The good Dr. Hiluluk always spoke of how he admired pirates for challenging the world to follow their own ambitions and make their dreams come true by any means they felt they had to go. While not all means were good ones there were definitely diamonds in the rough, and he based his own flag off of those ideals. To challenge the ideals of the world and show everyone that if he tried hard enough and never gave up on his passion then he would achieve it someday. And before he died he declared that he _had_ achieved it. They both were happy and sad at the same time. They wanted to see the products of his life's work but they couldn't bring themselves to bear to be around it. How could they when their own father had committed suicide on the grounds that he didn't want them to be sad because he died from what they fed him? In actuality, it made them feel worse _because_ of that, along with him never getting to see his cherry blossoms bear fruit. But he never regretted anything because the life of pirates _taught_ him to never regret what you set out to do. And the boys also never stopped thinking of what living that kind of life would be…and now they were being given an open invitation at this very moment.

Naruto shook his head and placed his hands on his hips, before sighing. "You know…you really are just one hell of a crazy guy. I mean you and that blonde idiot try to eat Chopper, then the both of us, then say that us being monsters is cool and now we're supposed to join your crew? Just like that?"

Luffy thought about the rabbit's words or a moment.

"Duh."

Naruto then gave a big laugh liking this guy more and more. Luffy didn't try to overthink it and is basically forcing them to get the chance to live their own dreams. Why would anyone with common sense turn that down? Naruto held out his hand to Luffy who eagerly took it and they shook. "Then you got yourself a deal, Rubber Man! I've _always_ wanted to become a pirate! We _both_ do, actually! Getting to go on adventures, fighting different bad guys and getting crazy strong all the time!? That sounds like a solid deal, right bro!?"

Chopper's head was tilted low a bit as his arms shook a little. Naruto grew concerned for his big brother and kneeled down beside him to see if he was okay. "I _do_ agree with you Naruto. I want to be a pirate too and live the way…the way…our dad wanted us too. Out on the ocean and free to _be free_ the way he wanted. The way _we_ wanted. But I just don't understand." He looked up to Luffy as his eyes seemed glossy with tears but they didn't fall. "I just don't understand…why you want monsters like _us_ to join your crew. Please…tell me the reason. Even if you think we're cool…I, for one, aren't human at all. Naruto is but…he would rather stay this way then turn back into his normal self. One would think he was born a rabbit like how I was born a reindeer. So… _why_ exactly?"

' _Chopper.'_ Naruto thought sadly as he saw his brother on the verge of breaking down. He knew why he was asking these questions and he knew just what he wanted to hear. He just hoped that Luffy would say things along the 'accepting him' lines instead of just thinking that he was cool. This time, Luffy didn't give any half-assed answer.

With a shrug to start off, he followed with, "To be honest…now that I got to know you _both_ a bit more, there isn't anything different between you and people. Who gives a crap if you're a reindeer? And who gives a crap if you're a rabbit? You're both just the same as me, Nami, Vivi, or anyone else on my crew, right? Not a pair of dumb animals. As long as you have dreams and treat your crewmates like family…then you're welcome on my ship."

That was it. That was all Chopper could take before the tears began to stream from his eyes as he started to cry in sheer happiness. He has been waiting for ages for someone, _anyone_ , to just outright accept who he was without any form of prejudice. Sure, he and Naruto had Hiluluk and was taught by the doctorine but those two were basically their adoptive father and mother. It's usually in the job description to accept those you take under your wing but it's something else to outright make _real_ friends. Dalton gave a small smile at seeing Chopper's and Naruto's happy expressions (Once Chopper stopped crying) while Nami and Vivi smiled as well. Nami having gotten dressed in the spare coat and winter clothes while the boys' backs were turned and Vivi trying her best to move an unconscious Sanji on her back.

"So you two are going to be coming with us after all, is that it?" Vivi said, lying Sanji down on the bed gently. Well, as gently as she could what with him flopping from her back when she turned around so he could land on it. He gave a low groan in response. Chopper wiped his eyes one more time and nodded to her.

"Guess…guess we are! We're going to become pirates!" He exclaimed happily while throwing both hooves into the air. Naruto shared his enthusiasm by exclaiming 'yeah!' and doing the same. He then blinked as he looked to Luffy.

"Also, quit calling me Rabbit Guy. My name is Naruto Uzumaki."

Chopper quickly followed his lead. "And I'm his brother, Tony Tony Chopper. You can remember them, right?"

Luffy crossed his arms and mulled over the names. "Naruto…Chopper…yeah! They're both cool names! I'll definitely remember them, without a doubt. And I'm Monkey D. Luffy! Your official captain among the Straw Hat Pirates! Now let's grab Sanji and get going already, okay?"

The two nodded while Chopper went into his 'Heavy Point' and grabbed the cook. He seamlessly lifted him into his arms and made sure that he didn't move him around too much. "Okay…but first, we can't leave. Not yet. We'll have to tell the doctorine we'll be going with you guys."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "We also have things we need to pack too. I don't want to leave any of my books, herbs, or exercise equipment behind."

"Same here," Chopper said, "but even then I…want us to do one last thing for her while we're here."

"Which would be?" Naruto asked.

"Well, she's got those men doing something in the arsenal and she said it required heavy lifting. I think that we could help her with whatever she needs in record time compared to leaving it to just those villagers." He looked to Luffy. "Is that alright, Luffy?"

Luffy nodded. "Sure. Take your time with whatever and all that."

"So you're all leaving then?" They looked to see that it was Dalton who spoke up, with an unreadable expression on his face. "Even though the doctorine specifically said to not leave until two days from now?"

Nami shrugged and said, "Well from what _I_ heard, she _secretly_ told us to…well, you were awake when she said it all. She's giving us a free pass and I'm going to take it. We can't stay here any longer than we have too, not to mention, we've got somewhere very important to be. We're helping Vivi save her home so we're on a pretty serious timetable here. But let her know that I appreciated the _helpful_ side of her treatments."

With that, they all walked out the door, though Vivi told Dalton to 'take care' as her final good-bye. They found Usopp and Zoro out there waiting for them, with Usopp in the process of making a snowman. Zoro just sat in the snow and seemed to have been meditating or somehow taking a quick snooze. Only he could possibly manage that. When the two saw their captain, navigator, and Vivi come outside with an unconscious Sanji in the arms of Chopper, they were both a little surprised. Okay, Zoro was a little surprised while Usopp nearly wet himself at the sight of the hulking beast-like man. Even more-so when Luffy told them that said beast was the reindeer they both saw earlier whose name is Chopper. He and Naruto were siblings and that they were going to be their newest crewmates. Zoro nodded in acceptance while Usopp gulped in nervousness but put on a brave front and spoke of how 'anyone who was allowed to be a part of his crew was definitely worth their salt and had every right to join'.

While the two new members would've been happy to introduce themselves to the swordsman and sniper properly, they saw fit to get their things ready instead. Then they would help the doctorine. After Chopper gently placed Sanji in the snow, the two headed back inside the castle. Vivi explained to a confused Usopp and Zoro their reasoning's for doing so which had them nod in understanding. The two climbed up the stairs to the third level before they split off into two separate directions, yet their rooms weren't that far from each other. When they were younger they both used to share a single bedroom, which more than made the two brothers happy at the time. Especially since neither was too comfortable sleeping alone when that's how they slept in Hiluluk's house. Though as they got older, they both began to collect more items and did different kinds of medical experiments, which required as less interference as possible. Especially for Naruto, since his sensitive hearing would drive him nuts if he had to keep listening to Chopper mumbling to himself when he tried his own experiments and crafted medicines. Also, they weren't little kids anymore. They didn't need to sleep in the same room if they could help it.

Naruto's room had the usual bed and workstation for his medical work. He had a dresser that was full of his clothes, which wasn't a lot and a bookshelf which held a pretty impressive number of books. Books that were scholar level in the realm of medicine, or high-class level of battle strategies and combat techniques. He had memorized most of them all down to the last detail. He had another separate area that was by the window dedicated to his carrot pots. Yes, he had a total of five decently large pots filled with soil and grew his carrots there. Farming wasn't a set skill he had aimed to master but it was definitely a very useful one to have, especially when you live on a Winter Island. The castle actually had a giant furnace in the lowest level which warmed up the whole place a decent enough amount for the plants to not freeze over. He wouldn't be able to carry those pots so he would have to just take the newly grown carrots and get some new ones for his eventual room on the ship. Finally, in the corner was a workout area, complete with a large, heavy punching bag, dumbbells of varying sizes, arm and leg weights, pull-up bar, and finally, a bench-press.

Grabbing two bags he went over to his dresser to grab two spare track suits and others articles for different occasions. He then went to his books shelf to grab the books that he still needed to either finish or properly memorize which were only 5 of them. He went over to his carrot plants and plucked the delicious vegetables from their homes in the soil and placed them in the medical bag he carried on his lower back. Finally, he placed some of his bottles, medicines, and journals in a decently sized wooden case and put them in. He then used the second bag to place his portable weights in there, being the dumbbells, arm and leg weights. He looked to his punching bag and in curiosity, gave a single punch to it. The force from the jab blew a hole through it and made a good portion of the sand rush out, nearly all of it. Looking at his fist, he just sighed from how he just proved his point on being as strong as he could possibly be at the moment. Just a single punch. It used to take at least 10 solid punches before he had to switch bags and that single blow wasn't even half his strength. "But that's all going to change. Pretty soon, big bro and I are going to sail the sea's and grow even more."

As for Chopper, his room was basically the same as Naruto's with a few key differences. For starters, instead of one, he had two bookshelves and they were both a bit larger than Naruto's single one. His collection of books being geared towards medicine for the most part with only a few books relating to combat. Though while that collection of literature was lacking, there was a particular brand of fighting that he found to be pretty interested in. His knowledge of the human body has led to him liking a more precise sort of fighting style. Specifically, attacking one's nerve-points and having their bodies either go out of whack or take them out without having to exert too much force or energy. Granted, he _did_ find elation in just out-right pounding the hell of things like Naruto and that's mainly what his 'Heavy', 'Arm' and 'Kung-Fu Points' were made for. But he figured that this was a style that he was best suited for, especially with his 'Scope' technique making it so he practically always finds weak points in his enemies. A technique he prided in on the accounts of Naruto and even Kureha not being able to perform it. Anyway, his medical station had a desk that was two times the size of Naruto's own, which was kept in an orderly fashion, though he didn't have any plants or much of a work-out area. He did have a punching bag and some pretty large dumbbells of his own but that was it.

Chopper only grabbed a single bag. He placed the dumbbells in first (Which he had to go into his 'Heavy Point' to do) and then walked over to his books. He gazed around the large collection, wondering what he should bring. He memorized all of them but it's always nice to have something to refer to time in and time out. So he grabbed one on combat techniques, one of the body's nervous system, and just 3 other ones he felt would be the most helpful in all around doctor-based things. Gazing around his station, he also took his journals and, like Naruto, had a pretty decent box of medical supplies and remedies tucked away. Finally, just a few pairs of shorts. His bag was packed and he was ready to head out. Chopper and Naruto left their rooms leaving their bags near the doors. Exhaling deeply, they walked to the stairs before heading down them.

"How are you feeling about this Chopper?" Naruto asked.

"Honestly…a tad nervous. I mean we're leaving out home behind. The doctorine too."

Naruto looked down as he thought about everything that's happened up to this point. He too felt pretty nervous and a small part of him didn't want to leave all of this behind but the larger part of him knew that he _had_ too. They _both_ had too. This was their dad's dream which in turn became their own dream and it was time to go after them. "Yeah…me too. Though…there's someone else I'm going to have to say good-bye too. I mean…someone, I honestly think I'll miss more than doctorine."

"Huh?" Chopper asked with a curious blink. "Who would that be?" He saw Naruto's cheeks get a tad rosy before he glanced away. Chopper blinked more before he gave a big mischievous grin and chuckled. He went into 'Heavy Point' as he wrapped his large arm around Naruto's shoulder. "Ohhhhh~, I get it~. That Hinata girl, right? You're gonna miiiiiiiiiiiss heeeeer~."

Naruto's eyes grew angular and turned completely white as his blush grew many darker shades. He _hated_ when Chopper teased him about this particular personal subject! With a hard shove he pushed his larger older brother away and crossed his arms as they continued their trek to the arsenal, so they could help Kureha with whatever is was she needed help with. "Shut up, ya' moron! Of course, I'm gonna miss her! She's my best friend! So what about it!?"

Chopper's look became downright evil as he shook his head. He quickly closed the gap between the two of them and made smooching noises, much to Naruto's anger. He even playfully clasped his hands together and held them near his face to imitate a form of romantic admiration. "Nu-uh. It's not _that_ simple at all. You looooooove her~. Baby bro is growing up, isn't he?"

Naruto held up a 'Rabbit Peace' which was locked and loaded to put Chopper in his place. "DO YOU WANT ME TO TURN YOUR BLUE NOSE RED!?"

* * *

When the two got to the arsenal, they found that Kureha was busy ordering the men to moves all of the cannons from where they all grouped together in the back. They were being wheeled out to the forefront before they were tasked with having to take them all outside. Though even with that happening, they couldn't help but look around the gigantic room in wonder and all of the weapons that it held. Besides the cannons, there were swords of varying shapes and sizes, firearms of the same measure, wooden or metal crates and boxes filled with something or other. Weapons more than likely if they had to guess. There were four metal ladders against the way which lead to a second level and another set on the second that led to a third. They walked over to Kureha and caught her attention.

"What are the two of you doing here?" She asked.

"We just came down here to help out is all," Chopper said as he looked at the men rolling out the cannon's but were obviously having a bit of trouble. It took two or three of them just to move a single one and roll it out and there was quite a decent number of them too.

Kureha rose an eyebrow. "I didn't say that either of you had too. I say that you've done enough for today."

Naruto shook his head. "Nope. We'd be able to help get all of this done much quicker than if you only had these guys helping."

Kureha chuckled at Naruto's logic, knowing he was right about that. But she still wasn't entirely convinced. "So you just decided to help me then? No ulterior motives?" She found Naruto's and Chopper's looks of slight apprehension give her the answer she needed. Before either of them could tell her otherwise he rose a hand to stop them. "You know what? Forget it. If you wanna help so bad, then get to it." She points to the men and the cannons. "Just make sure you both hurry up. I'll be back in a few minutes." She turned and made her way out of the room which had Naruto and Chopper looking a little confused but they didn't think about it for too long. So they got to work with aiding in moving the canons. The men sure didn't mind the extra set of arms from the two as they possessed crazy super strength. Both Naruto and Chopper were capable of moving a single cannon each which was able to help speed up getting the cannons to the outside, which definitely confused the Straw Hats when they saw what the two were helping with. When asked why they were moving the large weapons from the arsenal to outside they just shrugged and said the doctorine didn't say why. It took until the night was beginning to set for the work to be done entirely but it was still a good deal quicker than if Naruto and Chopper hadn't been helping out. With that out of the way, they went upstairs to their rooms to grab their bags from their rooms and closed their doors. Chopper was also back in his 'Brain Point'.

"Okay…now the hard part," Naruto said as they went to Kureha. Both of them could smell that she was with Dalton at the moment and headed that way. They rounded into the room where they found her at one of the tables, drinking as usual. "Doctorine."

She turned to the two of them and removed the bottle from her lips. "Naruto, Chopper, thanks for the help with those cannons. Now you'll both get to see them put to use. I think you'll like the results."

"Actually doctorine, we have something that we need to tell you. Something important," Chopper said with a smile on his face," we're going to become pirates. We're leaving with the others right now."

Kureha turned to give them her full attention. "What did you say?"

"We're going out to sea. We're coming aboard with them as the ship's new doctors. We're going to travel everywhere!"

"Stop this foolishness right now!" Kureha yelled at them, her face scrunched up in anger. Naruto and Chopper jerked back a bit, not at all expecting this kind of reaction. Well, maybe they were probably expecting this but they seriously hoped that she would be alright with it. "Now listen…you know you two are my _only_ assistants! I'm the one who taught you both everything you know about medicine! Do you really feel _no_ gratitude at all for what I've done?"

Naruto shook his head. "It's not that at all. We're nothing _but_ grateful to you, doctorine. And this is always going to be our home, nothing will change that. If it wasn't for the Dr., then we wouldn't know what a real family was like. And if it wasn't for you then we'd just be monsters with no kinds of goals for the future. We care about the both of you a whole lot."

Kureha's face soothed a tad as she placed a hand on her hip. "Hmph. Then you can both just stay here. If you guys think you can find another home as nice as this one somewhere in the outside world, your sadly mistaken. Chopper, Naruto, those pirates aren't good for anything! You'll only end up dead on some vagabond's sword in no time." She then took another swig of her drink while Chopper gained the courage to speak again.

"We already accepted that as a possibility."

Kureha stopped drinking and got angry again. "Don't sound so sure of yourselves! A reindeer and rabbit out on the sea, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of!"

"WE'RE NOT JUST ANIMALS! WE'RE MEN! HOW DO YOU EXPECT US TO GROW MORE IF WE LIVE ONLY KNOWING THIS ISLAND!?" Chopper yelled with feeling, impressing Naruto a ton. He never heard his big bro say anything with such conviction in his life. Even Kureha was taken aback as his words sunk into her, yet it just infuriated her more. Somehow, she kept her cool.

She placed her bottle down. "You can talk tough for now, but you're both still my assistants. If you wanna leave, then you gotta go through me first! Do you understand!?"

Both of their eyes widened a little as Naruto raised a hand. "Hey…doctorine-GAH!" He jerked to the side as an ax embedded itself into the wall beside him. Both him and Chopper yelled in fright at how she just threw a weapon at them until Naruto rounded on her. "Are you _crazy!?_ What the hell was _that!?_ "

" Can it, brat! You've always been nothing but trouble Naruto. Nothing ever changed that and each year, Chopper's been adopting more and more of your irritating disrespect! _You_ could probably stay alive but Chopper's always been the wimp between the two of you. You'll die just trying to make sure he doesn't! And you Chopper, speaking for the both of you and calling yourselves _men_ ," she stepped forward with another ax resting on her shoulder," oh please, don't make me laugh. You were never even born one and Naruto refuse's to stay _as_ one! And don't think I haven't noticed those bags on your backs either! Just gonna decide you'll pack up and leave even without my saying so!"

Naruto got a determined look on his face and stepped forward. "We don't _care_ if you say we can't go! This is what dad wanted for us! To go out and explore the world! And these pirates are totally different! They like us…for _us_! We're not monster or animals to them but _people_!"

"QUIET YOU!" Kureha screamed, her eyes becoming comically white and her teeth appearing as fangs. She threw the second ax near Chopper who moved to the side to not get sliced as they both jerk to the other side. Kureha ran to the back wall to grab two stone tomahawks. She grabbed _another freaking ax_ on top of an iron ball. "No! I'm not gonna let you two leave me!"

She threw the ax with had them both dodge and run out of the room. "YOU'RE BOTH STAYING!" Kureha grabbed, even more, weapons and ran at them which had the two screaming for their lives as they hauled ass away from her. "CHOPPER! NARUTO! GET BACK HERE! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE!"

"WHY ARE YOU SO FAST!?" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs.

"MY RAGE TOWARDS YOUR BULLSHIT IS ADRENALINE!" Was Kureha's response as he had to duck an iron ball that was thrown at the back of his head. "COME BACK! I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY FROM ME, BOYS! GIVE UP!" She then began to throw a bunch of spears but the two managed to evade them with full intent on staying alive.

"NARUTO, THE SLEIGH! GET TO THE SLEIGH!" Chopper screamed which had him and Naruto put in the extra speed and make a beeline for the area where they kept it. They got there and pull it out of the room by opening the door which led to the outside. Naruto hopped into it while Chopper attached the reins to himself and took his 'Walk Point' pulling it and his little brother along.

"WHAT COULD SOMEONE LIKE YOU TWO DO ON A PIRATE SHIP!? LIVE SOME FANTASY LIKE THAT OLD QUACK!?" Kureha screamed as she ran out the front door twirling another iron ball and chain. If anything, the two didn't like that Kureha was speaking ill of their father like that. Leave it to Naruto to voice it.

"YOU'RE WRONG! DAD COMPLETED HIS RESEARCH BEFORE HE DIED! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIM!" He screamed at her which had Chopper feeling incredibly grateful that Naruto voiced both of their thoughts.

"I KNEW MORE ABOUT HIM THEN EITHER OF YOU WILL EVER KNOW!" She screamed back. Their noisemaking attracted the attention of the men on the outside and the Straw Hats.

"What's going on?" Vivi asked before she gasped at what they were seeing. "He's being chased!" The men all yelled in surprised and moved out of the way, hoping there was enough space for the two to not crashed into the cannons.

"Hey, we got the ropeway ready to go!" Usopp yelled to the other as he and Luffy walked back up the stairs. They then blinked when they saw what everyone else was seeing.

"Everyone, get on the sleigh! We're going to head right now the mountain, hurry!" Chopper yelled to everyone while Kureha was not giving an inch in the slightest. Chopper jumped over the cannons and ran towards the Straw Hats while Kureha threw the iron ball will incredible strength and accuracy, making them all scream as it headed for them. In a rush, they all jumped or scrambled into the sleigh. Usopp had to hold onto Luffy so that he wouldn't fly off while Chopper jumped onto the ropeway and began to run down, making Kureha's final attempt fail.

Kureha watched them head all the way down until they touched land, a solemn look on her face. "You sure that was the best way to say good-bye?" She turned to see Dalton was standing behind her.

"Two pets I was taking care of are being looked after by someone else now. Besides, I don't like…long goodbyes." Kureha said as she shed a few tears. She had to admit that her boys really _had_ grown up a lot over the years and she was going to miss them terribly. But she still had a job to do. She turned and hit Dalton in the chest which had him gasp and hold his chest. "'C'mon! We've got work to do! We have to prepare a fitting send-off!"

"That hurts." Dalton wheezed as he walked after he, so she could help the men properly set up the cannons and get ready for use.

* * *

Back with the Straw Hats, Naruto was looking out to the Drum Rockies with a melancholy expression. He would definitely miss the doctorine, just how he knew Chopper would. But at the same time, they both were thinking about what she said, how Hiluluk's dreams were just that. Dreams and nothing else. Naruto knew that Hiluluk sucked when it came to medicine but in every other field, the man was a genius. He could accomplish anything and heal the heart was something he was a master in. If he said that he found the solution to his cherry blossom chemical then he wouldn't doubt the doctor at all.

' _It'll just be a shame to never see it. I'd love to know what Cherry Blossoms are actually like.'_ He noticed the direction that they were heading and knew that they would be passing the path that led straight to Bighorn. This was going to be his last days on this island to set off with his new crew and there was just no way he could leave without telling Hinata that he was leaving. Maybe not without coming clean to Marian or the other villagers and letting them know he was alive.

Looking over to his new crewmates, he asked, "Hey guys? I just wanted to know where exactly you guys had docked your ship."

"Near the village, Bighorn," Vivi replied which had Naruto gasp in surprise as his face lit up.

"You serious!? That's awesome, ya' know! That just saves me a bunch of trouble!" He exclaimed happily which confused everyone else except Chopper.

"Huh? What's the big idea if we're near Bighorn?" Usopp asked.

"I have an old friend, Hinata, that I need to say goodbye too and that's where she lives. Actually, besides her, there are a few other I need to see. Besides Hinata, I haven't met or spoken to anyone else ever since I was chased away from there."

"Chased away? Why?" Sanji asked but Naruto just gestured to his face.

"Well not everyone thought the new look was very inviting. But Hinata was the only one who recognized me and she's my only friend here on this island. So the least I can do it tell her what I'm going to be doing. The most I can do is to show all of the others in Bighorn that I'm not dead or whatever they think happened to me," He explained which they either nodded or voiced their understanding. Not long afterward, there were multiple booming sounds that cracked the air, which they all heard. Chopper slowed down to a stop as they all turned to look at the Drum Rockies.

"What the heck was that?" Zoro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not sure," Usopp said before his eyes lit up with a thought, "wait a sec! Those canons that witch doctor had those men bringing outside!"

"I wonder why they're firing them now. Hell, I wonder why they even _needed_ them in the first place." Nami said while Sanji was the only one who looked confused. That was understandable considering that he was knocked out during the whole duration. Even Chopper shifted back into 'Brain Point' before walking over to everyone, who were either getting out of the sleigh, standing or who just turned around. Naruto walked along with Chopper as they stood on a small hill of snow, feelings of immeasurable happiness slowly rising up from their cores.

Because the home they had left behind lit up while a sakura tree while the snow became its petals.

"So cool," Luffy said with a large grin on his face with Zoro agreeing.

"Wow," Nami whispered in a mystified tone but Chopper and Naruto were still totally speechless. Though their minds were running many miles a second before they thought back to Hiluluk and all of his kind words and how inspiring he always was. Some of them being very personal.

' _After 30 years, this dust_ _finally_ _completes my research!'_

' _I_ _will_ _make cherry blossoms bloom in this country. Once my invention is perfected this country is as good as saved.'_

' _I promise I'm not going to shoot you, see!? My name is Hiluluk! Dr. Hiluluk!'_

' _Tony Tony Chopper. Cool name, huh!? Anyway, that's what I'm gonna call you!'_

"Doctor…doctorine…" Chopper choked out as the tears fell with his nose becoming runny. He couldn't take the bottle up emotions staying as such so he let them all out at once. He gave multiple loud cries of everything that he was feeling while Naruto's own tears were dripping down his face in a never-ending stream. He wasn't so out with his emotions like Chopper was and resorted to holding his arm over his eyes but his sobs didn't escape the others.

' _Chopper, I believe from this day on…you're about to become an older brother!'_

' _Do you like the sound of that Naruto? To be part of our family? I promise that we don't care if you're a human, rabbit, or whatever you are. You're still a perfectly normal boy in my eyes. I don't have a lot but a home is something I can most definitely give you. I'd be happy if you said 'yes' and I think Chopper would like to have someone his age, who's like him, to play with."_

' _You're both gonna become great doctors! I'll make sure of it!'_

The feels were too much even for him as he plopped on his rear in the snow, still crying. He had no doubt that Kureha could probably hear Chopper all the way back up to the mountain with this being the absolute loudest the reindeer had ever screamed in his life. It was a definite killer on Naruto's ears though but he was sure to let Chopper get away with that this time since this was too much of a precious moment, while their friends all watched them with a mix of smirks, grins, and smiles.

* * *

After having their moment, Chopper went back to pulling the sleigh along in 'Walk Point'. He and Naruto let a few more stray tears fall as they got the last of their erupting emotions out of their systems. Sanji commented on how this was one hell of a send-off which Naruto and Chopper couldn't help but agree with him. On their way back to the ship, Naruto told the crew why the sakura tree and its petals were so important. The fact that it was his and Chopper's late adopted father's dream to make cherry blossoms bloom in this country which would save it from itself, and the joy it produced would cure any illness. He died before he could see it himself, however. This new knowledge known, they understood even more why the two boys were so sentimental as to why Kureha had done what she did and made them change their view a bit on the old woman. Kill them one minute and feed their dreams the next. A seriously weird combo when you think about it. As they were about to pass Bighorn which was in the distance Chopper stopped in place to let Naruto hop out.

"Hey, how come we stopped? How come you hopped out" Luffy asked the two of them while Naruto jabbed a to the village, which had all of the people outside to look at the large pink tree.

"Bighorn over there? That's where I was raised for 5 years. I have a friend who I always used to play with and when I started living with the Dr. and then the doctorine, I'd always visit her. She's the only one who knows about me being a Rabbit Zoan. All of the others probably think I'm dead after all this time. So…since I'm going to become a pirate and leaving this island for who knows how long, I'm going to just give 'em my own send-off."

"Oh. Okay then." Luffy said simply while Chopper looked to him.

"Don't take _too_ long, Naruto."

"I won't. Give me somewhere under 15 minutes. 20 at the most."

Chopper nodded before he started back again with Vivi and Usopp wishing him good luck. They traveled down the path before they were out of sight entirely. Naruto looked over to the village and took a deep breath before he took off towards it. He honestly didn't feel as apprehensive as he thought he would. Not like the last time seven years ago. Back them, he was confused and scared. He didn't know a thing about his powers and his brash actions towards those bullies solidified his expulsion from Bighorn…but he was glad. He was glad for all of it, even for all of the bad things that happened. It was because of those bad things that he experienced many good ones. Hiluluk, Chopper, Kureha, amassing this incredible strength, his medical knowledge, helping to kick Wapol out of Drum forever and now he was officially a Straw Hat pirate.

"It's weird to feel happy over things you once wished never happened." He muttered to himself as his sprint soon became a walk. His hands were in his pockets with his scarf covering his muzzle showing only the upper part of his head. His presence was soon known by some random villager exclaiming Naruto's approach which had the others looking at him in shock and fear.

"What is…a Laphan!? Why is a Laphan here!?"

"First that weird thing with the snow and the castle and now some strange rabbit creature?"

None of them even had weapons this time. But even if they did, he wouldn't have cared. He felt fully in control now. Of himself, of his powers, of this _moment_. He recognized some faces. Those three stooges from seven years ago who picked on Hinata were there with their parents. Same with all of the kids from the orphanage who looked like their had guardians from how some adults were being protective of them. Marian was there not looking a day older, with Maria standing right next to her. Both of them remembered him…or at least they know this form from way back. Then, of course, there were some of the adults who he used to prank. There were a few new faces too. Must've moved from some of the other villages

"Hold on…I know those clothes. That's the second one who was always with the witch! The one with the tail!" At this, more villagers began to panic, especially as Naruto walked closer and closer. Naruto rolled his eyes and gave an audible sigh, which they heard before stopping in place. He was 15 feet from the large gathering of people. He then spoke surprising them.

"Man…its been one hell of a while since I've last seen all of you guys. I mean, I remember _some_ of you and vaguely remember _most_ but everyone? Nah. But…its definitely great to see all of you guys are doing okay," he then looked around and saw that houses looked as if someone took chunks out of them while there were large masses of snow, which had him sweatdrop at the damage. "Holy crap! What the hell happened to this place!? It's like someone caused an avalanche before the houses were on someone's menu!" He then adopted a deadpanned look as he thought of only one person with a mouth that big. God, even when that fatass turned Mr.-pencil- _no_ -ass wasn't here, he made things inconvenient. No one knew how to respond to the casual manner in which he spoke as if he was on good terms with the people here along with being incredibly familiar with Bighorn.

Honestly, first Wapol, then pink snow and now this craziness?

"Who are you? What do you want from us? Did the witch doctor send you?" Marian asked/demanded while Naruto shook his head at her. He gave a big smile but made sure to not show off any fang's as to not spook anyone like he does to Usopp.

"Nope. I'm here on my own this time. Besides that, I can't believe you don't remember me, Marian. I mean I know I _look_ pretty different and all but you can't tell it's me through my eyes or something? That's hurtful. A wise man once told me the eyes are the windows to the soul, you know?" Naruto said as he placed his arms behind his head, still smiling. All he did was confuse her and she didn't like now having a straight answer.

"Listen you furry-"

"Naruto!" Naruto looked as he recognized that voice. Hinata had pushed through the crowd with her mother, father, and sister in tow as she looked at him with her own smile. A small once but it was definitely joyful. Her outburst causing all sorts of reactions among the populace but the two didn't pay it any mind. "Naruto…you're here. You're…standing in front of everyone." She said in disbelief while he removed his arms from their current place and nodded. He walked forward until he stood in front of her, showing that he was half a foot taller.

"Yeah. It's just…I had to see you Hinata. I had to see everyone again actually. This seemed like the perfect time to do it."

"Hinata…what is it…that you just said?" Her father asked while Marian, Maria, and…well, _everyone_ looked to the two in surprise. Naruto chose that moment to drop the games and shift back. It was a pretty quick shift actually but they could all see the process. White fur vanishing until only blonde eyebrows and hair remained on his face and head. His head moved from the top of his scalp to the sides while his pink skin was shown. His tail receded while his whisker birthmarks were visible and he gave that signature stupid grin of his.

"Yup! It's me! Pretty wild, huh, guys?" He was met with a multitude of very loud gasps full of nothing but disbelief, shock, and every other synonym among those lines. Marian stepped closer to him and tentatively held out her hands to him and placed both of the large palms against his face, wondering if he was real.

"Brat…is it _really_ you?" She nearly whispered but still being heard. Naruto just kept smiling and nodded once again before tears began to spill over her face. She sniffed a few times before he pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. "YOU STUPID LITTLE IDIOT! ALL THIS TIME, I THOUGHT YOU DIED OUT THERE! THAT YOU WERE EATEN' BY A LAPHAN OR CAUGHT FROST-BITE OR…OR…DAMMIT!" Naruto's gave a sympathetic smile before he wraps his arms around her massive frame before hugging her back. He had no idea how much he missed Marian until this moment, especially seeing how worried she was for him. Even the other villagers were cheering at the return of the 'daily nuisance' but were still discombobulated on the whole 'being a rabbit' thing.

"I missed you too, Marian. A whole lot actually." Naruto said as the woman was getting her senses back. She just growled, stood back up before hitting him over the head. He barely even felt the blow but he still grabbed his head out of habit from her striking him.

"WHAT THE HELL, NARUTO!? IT'S BEEN 7 GODDAMN YEARS! YOU HAD US ALL THINKING YOU DIED OR SOMETHING BUT THEN YOU SHOW UP OUT OF THE BLUE! NOT ONLY WHEN THAT WITCH IS DOING SOMETHING JUST AS CRAZY AS SHE IS BUT YOU'RE…YOU WERE….YOU WERE JUST A _FREAKING RABBIT!"_ She screamed at him but he just gave her a look when she was done. Mainly at how she just insulted the doctorine and disregarding the things she said to him and Chopper (which he figured she said just to have them stay so she wouldn't miss them when they left) after what she just did…there was no way he was going to let her be slandered like that.

"Look, I know that it's been a while since we've seen each other and I don't care what you all think of her…but don't talk about the doctorine like that in front of me. It ticks me off." He said with steel in his voice that surprised her. Not only that but Naruto now carried himself with a presence.

"How come you're defending that witch!? You don't know what-" Some random villager spoke up but Naruto rounded on that guy and pointed to him.

"Shut the hell up! _You_ don't know what she's like! Not at all! She isn't a saint, sure, but the doctorine is awesome! I've lived with her for 5 years and I know just how incredible of a person she is on the inside! So unless you can tell me at least what her favorite brand of booze is or her favorite color then don't say anything else!" He yelled out in defiance, which had the man quiet down immediately. Though his words weren't lost on him. Has he been living with Kureha for 5 years? Why!? And what about the first two!? Was he kidnapped…or rescued?

"Naruto," Maria said as she walked beside her sister, "maybe…you can explain what's going on here. That pink cloud, your disappearance, don't spare any details if you can."

Naruto mulled it over before he figured it was best to give them a short version of everything that had happened to him from 7 years ago. To how he ate the Hop-Hop Fruit and was chased from the village (making said villagers remember that incident and felt terrible about it) to then being adopted by the quack of a doctor Hiluluk and his adopted brother, Chopper. A reindeer with a blue nose who ate the Human-Human Fruit, giving him the intelligence and body of a human to change into at will. He told them of Hiluluks' dream to bring cherry blossoms to the island and that pink cloud with the pink snow is the end result. When he died, he and Chopper were then taken in by Kureha and trained in the ways of both medicine and physical ability, making him and Chopper fully realized doctors themselves. Doctors who fought Laphan's in groups on a daily basis and were now strong enough to not even consider them a threat in any form. Then when the Straw Hats came, along with Wapol, Naruto and Chopper defeated both of Wapol's goons single-handedly while Luffy sent the king flying.

"Then after some convincing, Luffy got me and Chopper to join his crew as the ship's new doctors. They're waiting for me at the ship right now actually and we're going to go and see the world. Go on adventures and make names for ourselves. Just like dad wanted and I'm here to say good-bye since it might be a long time until I come back to this island." Naruto finished while everyone was engrossed in his tale. None of them could believe that this was still the same whisker-faced blonde prankster. Now he was an accomplished doctor with years of fighting experience. The fact that he can say he practically eats Laphans for breakfast, lunch, and dinner was scary enough but he had a hand in taking down Wapol too? How could they not see him as some form of hero for that alone!?

Hinata walked over to Naruto and gave him a big hug which he returned. "Thank you, Naruto. Thank you," She whispered while he pulled back.

"I was just getting back at him for everything he's done to this island. For what he's done to dad. Even all of you guys," he then turned to the 'cheery blossom tree' that was his home for the last 5 years. "But I'm sure that he's laughing his ass off right now, the doctor. He said he'd make his dream come true and he did. Now I'm gonna go do the same."

Marian glanced off to the side and gave a 'tch'. "Just got back and you're already leaving again, huh brat? You know, you missed out on a bunch of ramen meals these last 7 years," Naruto just gave a chuckle before Maria walked over and handed him a large bag.

"Huh? What's this?" He asked.

"Open it and find out," Was her answer. He did so and gasped at what he saw. There was a multitude of varieties of instant ramen! Shrimp, chicken, beef, miso, pork, everything was there! Sure, he may have changed up his diet a lot and thanks to his rabbit side, he has found a very large appreciation for vegetables and fruits…but ramen will always hold that one place at the center of his heart!

"YES! YES, YES, YES! THANK YOU, MARIA!" Of course, he didn't wonder when she was able to sneak off to her house, fill this bag up with this food from god before walking back just to hand it to him. All that mattered was that he had everything he needed and more. Slinging the bag over his shoulder he turned around and took a deep inhale of the frigid air. "Well…looks like I better head out. Bro and the crew are waiting for me."

"Um…Naruto?" Hinata said before her mother gave her something. Something red was all he saw before she turned to him and presented what it was. His eyes widened in shock. It was his old scarf. The one that got ripped up way back when. Said kids surprisingly moved back as to not be spotted by Naruto but he wasn't focused on them. "This isn't…the exact same scarf. Mother helped me…knit a new one for you. But I see you…you already have a scarf so-"

"You…knitted me a new scarf?" He said in a mystified tone. Hinata just nodded while he took the scarf in his unoccupied hand. He placed the bag of ramen in the snow so he could hold it with both of his hands, looking over it two times. "Wow. I can't believe you made this for me. I know that knitting isn't easy. It takes a bunch of time to do."

Hinata nodded with a light smile. "I worked really hard on it. I hope you would keep it."

"I'll _always_ keep it!" He wrapped the scarf around his waist to prove the point. He didn't want to get rid of his current one since it's the only thing from Hiluluk he had but there was no way he was going to neglect Hinata's scarf its use. So why not use it as a sash for the time-being? It was enough to make Hinata smile at least. Naruto did the same before looking back up to the pink cloud.

"It's very pretty, Naruto. It makes me feel all warm inside," She said.

"yup. That was the feeling that dad was trying so hard to share with everyone. And even if he's not here himself, I'm sure he knows he finally did it." He replied.

"Man. Now I feel kinda bad for calling that guy a quack doctor." One of the women said while others agreed. Naruto just laughed at them.

"Oh, he was definitely a quack doctor. Didn't know anything about medicine. But he did teach me and big bro on healing the heart. Kind words are a great first step. Anyway…I should get going for real this time," he looked at them with a sad smile," sorry about just showing up again only to leave. But…I was always too nervous to try and come back. Now I needed to do it."

Marian gave a kind smile this time, which looked a little strange on her rugged features. "Better late than never at its finest. Just…don't die out there Naruto."

"I won't die," he said with a grin, "'cause I'm gonna keep getting stronger and faster! The next time you'll see me, it'll be on my very first bounty poster! I bet it'll be something crazy high like…70 million berry or something!"

"THAT'S NOT SOMETHING TO BOAST ABOUT!" Most of the adults yelled while he just laughed before he shifted back into his rabbit state.

"Alright, that's gonna take some getting used too," Marian said while Naruto gave one last hug to Hinata. The girls face lit up again but she still returned it, feeling how warm his fur and scarf was against her face. Then he did something that had her going from blushing to an all-out tomato face.

He pecked her cheek.

There were a few gasps and some 'ohhhhhs' going around while Naruto stood back. His own face was pretty red as his eyes shifted down but he managed to smile shyly at her. All she could do was bring her gloved hand up to her cheek. "Heh. Kinda…been waiting to do that for a year or two now, to be honest." Naruto said in a bashful tone as he took a few steps back. "Was that…too soon?...Too much?...Uhh…I feel kinda awkward now so… see ya'!" With that, he turned and bolted away from the village while everyone was still in shock at what happened. A few not knowing why Naruto did that in _that_ form compared to his _normal_ human self.

"Hinata…how _close_ are you and that…boy?" Hiashi asked his daughter with a raised eyebrow.

Hanabi found that moment was the perfect one to tease her big sister as her eyes gained a glint in them. "Naruto and Big Sis, sittin' in a tree~ K-I-S-S-I-N-*THUD* BIG SIS!"

"HINATA!" Hiashi and his wife cried as their eldest daughter fell to her back, unconscious while muttering Naruto's name in a mantra to herself.

* * *

On the Going Merry, the crew was watching the pink snow and massive pink cloud that surrounded Drum Castle, all giving their sighs and comments at its impressiveness. Chopper and Naruto were the only two stoic ones as they sat together on the railing, looking up at it all.

Usopp leaned towards the others and whispered, "Hey. Do you think Chopper and Naruto are okay? They're looking a little down."

"They'll be fine. Let's just leave them alone for right now," Nami said.

Sanji took his cigarette out of his mouth and said "It's an emotional time. They're going on their first journey's as men, it's right of passage."

"And they're about to leave Drum island for good," Vivi spoke up, "it's been their homes their entire lives."

Usopp nodded in understanding. "Yeah."

"Naruto?" Chopper addressed to his brother who looked down towards him.

"Yeah?"

"We're leaving them. Both doctor and doctorine. Our adventures are finally starting…on this ship." He said with conviction. Naruto could only nod in agreement as the island got smaller and smaller but the pink cloud still went strong.

Seeing the tree filled them with determination.

Though when the other males felt that the moment was over, they figured it was that time to throw a party. Food, booze, games, jokes, the others felt that it was time to really get down for not just getting Nami healed, but also recruiting _two_ new members of their crew. And with Luffy and Sanji to vouch for the two at seeing their abilities first-hand, they were definite shoe-ins. Zoro especially was glad that he would have some new and tough training partners. Especially Naruto if his claims to lifting trees as if they were toys were indeed fact. Naruto and Chopper had just set their things on the floor near Nami while they tried to maneuver through everyone else.

Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji were dying at how Luffy placed chopsticks in his nose, pointing into his jaw and strutted around making as many crazy faces as possible. The cherry blossoms just added to the decoration in Zoro's verbal opinion.

"Chopper! Naruto! Snap out of it," Usopp yelled to them, "you can't just sit there in a daze all night long, you know!?" He grabbed two mugs and filled them with booze before holding them to their faces. "Want drinks?"

Sanji pushed him out the way with a smile. "Come sing a song with us!"

Zoro moved to their other side. "How about some arm wrestling?" This question was mainly directed at Naruto.

Luffy held Chopsticks to them. "Here! Shove these chopsticks up your nose! Go on!" This question was mainly directed at Chopper.

The two weren't used to this kind of roughhousing and slinked away from the four. Naruto's ears twitched making him turn to see Nami come up behind them which also alerted Chopper. "They're handfuls, guys."

"I'm pretty sure we figured that out a while ago," Naruto said thinking back to him and Chopper being chased around by Luffy and Sanji. "They ever tone it down?"

Nami smirked and looked to the partygoers. "Hate to break it to you, but your new friends are as crazy as they come."

Naruto just gave a big grin. "That's awesome! It'd suck if you all were pretty boring! Here that, Chopper? We're all friends now and we're gonna have a bunch of fun!"

"Our friends?" Chopper questioned as he still couldn't fully wrap his head around the fact. "They _are_ our new friends, aren't they?"

Nami nodded, still smiling. "That's right. These guys can _really_ be a lot to handle but now that you guys are our crewmates, you're gonna have to get used to it."

Naruto held up his fists and kept smiling. "I'm already feeling pretty festive, actually. This is the adventure of a lifetime and there is no other way to feel right now but super ecstatic."

Meanwhile, Vivi was tending to Carue, who she couldn't believe was frozen solid in the water when they got back to the ship. She had been holding him and warming him as best she could with a blanket but he was still really cold. Even his beak was blue. "Carue! What in the _world_ were you doing frozen in the river like that!?"

He gave multiple stuttering squaks that the humans couldn't hear but Naruto and Chopper heard him speak as clear as day. ("I-I-I-I c-can e-e-expla-ain..c-c-c-cold…")

The others were just laughing at him while Zoro said, "That bird! 10 berries says he slipped and fell into the river! He's a clumsy one." Sanji just laughed to himself behind him.

Vivi glared at the swordsman, not finding it funny. "Be quiet Mr. Bushido!"

Naruto and Chopper walked closer to him and Carue spoke more. ("Z-Zoro…swam in the f-frozen river. Couldn't s-see him f-for a while. Tried to h-help b-but I froze instead.")

"Ohhhh. Okay." Naruto said in understanding while he and Chopper relayed the message. "So apparently, this guy saw Zoro jump into the lake but then I guess he just vanished so he panicked."

"Then he jumped into the lake himself to try and help but he ended up getting frozen in it." Chopper picked up.

"SO THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Nami screamed as she punched Zoro in the back of the head who sweatdropped in the actual story. Vivi was the surprised one at what the two demonstrated.

"So you two were _really_ able to understand what Carue was saying?" She asked.

"Yes. For me, I'm still technically half animal by nature so I can understand what they say." Chopper said.

"As for me, even though I have the abilities and appearance of a rabbit thanks to my Devil Fruit, I've stayed in the form for such a long period of time that my brain kinda 'rewired' itself or something. So I can understand animals too." Naruto said.

"You both can talk to animals!?" Vivi exclaimed.

"Wait a second! Devil Fruit? You ate a Devil Fruit too!? That's why you're a rabbit!?" Usopp exclaimed to Naruto who nodded in confirmation.

Luffy crossed his arms and tilted his head. "But I thought you were born a rabbit. You make it seem like you were."

"Nope," Naruto started, "I at the Hop-Hop Fruit Model: Snowshoe Hare when I was 5. But during all of that time, besides short intervals in between, I just never changed back. Kinda because I wanted to follow in my big brother's footsteps since he's a human-reindeer and everything. Also, being an animal is awesome. There are _so_ many benefits if other Zoan's do it the way I do it…like talking to animals."

"BIG BROTHER!?" This time, all of them exclaimed in shock as they looked to Chopper. They looked back to Naruto and then back to Chopper. Then back to out-going, loud, tall Naruto. And once again, to a meek, scaredy cat, short Chopper. "NO WAY!"

"IT'S THE TRUTH!" The two Zoan's yelled, their teeth becoming cartoonishly sharp.

Sanji pointed to them both. "Wait a second, how old are you guys? Naruto, I thought you were in your teens while Chopper was in his pre-teens." The two gave nervous chuckles at that, wondering how they would take their answer.

"Actually…I'm 12," Naruto said.

"And I'm 15," Chopper replied.

"WE GOT THEM TOTALLY REVERSED!?" Zoro, Sanji, Luffy, and Usopp yelled in unison. Nami and Vivi just laughed at the huge role-reversal. Naruto was the one who always seemed to be protective of Chopper, yet Chopper was the oldest of the two. And once again, the shortest. It was such a weird thing to get what you weren't expecting to be obvious.

"Well it usually makes more sense between us when I'm in my 'Heavy Point'," Chopper said before he suddenly grew Into it, making Usopp jerk back in shock. Of course, he's seen Chopper like this before but it was such an abrupt change that he couldn't help but feel jumpy at it. Though as they compared the height differences between the two now, Chopper was a full foot taller than even Zoro, with Naruto coming up to just under his chest. Chopper grinned and wrapped an arm around Naruto who grinned back.

"See? This makes more sense?" Naruto asked.

"In some weird way…yeah," Zoro admitted. It usually makes sense for the oldest to be the tallest and strongest looking and Chopper in 'Heavy Point' had both of those areas checked off.

Nami clasped her hands together. "Still, between your guys' medical skills and talking to animals, you two have got some amazing talents!"

"Thanks!" Naruto acknowledged to her but Chopper looked bashful as he shrunk back to 'Brain Point' and danced a bit.

"Don't be silly, you jerk~! Flattering me like that isn't going to make me happy or anything~! Haha!"

"He sure looks happy." Luffy and Usopp said as they watched him.

"Hey, what did you mean about Chopper and Naruto's 'medical skills' anyway?" Zoro asked Nami. She placed a hand on one of their shoulders.

"Well, these two are doctors and first-rate ones at that. Dr. Kureha taught them everything there is to know about medicine."

The other males (Besides Carue of course) were surprised at hearing this, not at all expecting to be taking, not just two new crewmates but _two doctors_ as well. "Impossible! Are you two seriously doctors!?" Zoro asked them with wide eyes.

"How cool!" Luffy said.

"No way!" Was Usopp's reply.

Nami took her hands back and placed them on her hips as she looked at her captain. "Really Luffy. If you didn't know that, what did you think they were before asking them to join us?"

"A talking-transforming-reindeer monster and a talking-kick-ass rabbit monster guy." He said in a matter-of-fact tone. He wasn't even entirely wrong in that reasoning either. Who wouldn't want to have crewmembers like that?

"Backup food," Sanji said clear as day which freaked Chopper out. Naruto just threw his signature move at Sanji's face who was sporting a smoking imprint as he twitched on the ground, with a Pe'Od Naruto standing above him.

"HAVE YOU NOT LEARNED!?" He screamed down to him which made Zoro howl with laughter at the cooks' misfortune. Yup. He was _definitely_ going to like this kid a lot. Maybe they could team-up in kicking Sanji's ass together.

Chopper gasped a bit as he remembered that they still had bags to unpack. "Naruto, speaking of us being doctors, we should probably go set our things up! You _did_ make sure to bring everything you were going to need, right?" Naruto snapped out of his moment of rage before going over to his now three bags. "Bro…why in the _hell_ do you have three bags? And they're pretty freaking large too!" Chopper asked in a bewildered fashion but Naruto just kept grinning as he opened up the biggest for everyone to see. The last thing they expected…was ramen noodles. Chopper's jaw dropped as his eye got into a twitching fit while Luffy's eyes sparkled at the large bag of food. Ramen in cups, ramen in bags, ramen in packets, it was nothing but different assortments of the stuff!

"Before I left Bighorn, a nice lady named Maria gave me all of this ramen! She's the little sister of Marian, my caretaker for my first 5 years. I missed out on 7 years worth of this, you know!?" He exclaimed with a certain hunger in his eyes that Chopper has only _ever_ seen whenever the two of them had ramen a few times with Hiluluk or Kureha. The way Chopper saw his little brother go at the stuff was akin to a beast ripping into the flesh of freshly caught prey. No mercy. No thought. Just consume more and more until you were satisfied. Watching Naruto eat ramen has got to be the _most_ disturbing thing he has ever seen. "Out of _all_ of the things, you could _possibly_ have gotten…" Naruto just grinned at him, while Sanji quickly recovered as he looked at the haul.

"Whoa! That's a whole mess of ramen! You know, I could use some of this to whip up a ramen lunch for tomorrow if you want." He asked, hoping the rabbit boy would say yes.

"You think you can make it taste even more epic?" Naruto asked with a serious gaze.

Sanji seemed practically insulted. "Do I _think?_ Naruto, I'm going to have to show you why I'm the ship's cook. Just leave me a few of those cups and packets. I'll even whip up some homemade ramen myself so I don't go through too much of your stash. Sounds fair?"

Naruto had streams of tears fly down his face while he shook in eagerness. "A ramen _lunch?_ And I don't have to give up most of my own? I take back hitting you earlier!" He placed that bag down and grabbed the two other ones with his equipment in it while Chopper did the same but noticed that they seemed to have a tad more weight to them for some reason. At least for Naruto, it was one of his bags.

"Huh? What the…" Chopper said while Sanji tilted his head.

"Something wrong?"

"My bag is actually a bit heavier than I expected. Maybe I accidentally overlooked something."

"Yeah, mine too," Naruto said as they both placed the bags down and opened them up. The first thing they each saw was the corner of something metal and probably rectangular. Looking to each other, they pulled the boxes out entirely and saw they _were_ made from metal. They were each a foot long in length and 6 inches in width, then height. "What…are these things?"

Chopper shook his head. "No idea. I'd think I'd remember having some kind of box, though."

"Well don't just sit there and look at them! Let's see what's inside!" Luffy exclaimed eagerly, always loving surprises, even if the surprise didn't relate to him at all. So they undid the small latches on their respective box and opened them up, not expecting what they found in them. First, they each found a slip of paper that they took out and held in their hand/hoof. For Chopper, he found cases. Cases that were transparent and allowed him to see 8 inch long needles inside of them. There were 10 of the miniature boxes and there were 10 needles in each one, making the amount 100 of the large needles. He picked out a case and read the paper.

"Throwing needles? Huh?" He wondered allowed as he gave them all a look over.

"Why in the heck would you have something like that!?" Usopp exclaimed but Chopper wasn't listening, yet he did catch Naruto's attention momentarily. He opened the case he held and grasped one of the needles from the slot that it was in, holding it between his hooves. It was pretty light. He carefully tried to bend it but found it to be very resistant. "Why would I ever have something like these?" He asked Naruto while absentmindedly twirling the needle in his hoof like he had been doing it all his life. And he practically does what with how he handles syringes.

The sight both intrigued and unnerved the Straw Hats. _'Does he not realize what he's doing?'_ They all thought while Naruto looked back to his box and pulled out…two boomerangs. They made of a dark metal and were just as long as the box. At the middle, they were bent a bit more than what was probably required for a normal boomerang with two small grooves at the ends of both that allowed hooking his fingers through them instead of having to grip the edges. He looked at his own slip of paper. "Boomerang shuriken?" Under them at the bottom of the box was some sort of leather belt that was supposed to hold them tightly.

"Throwing needles and boomerangs? Definitely not something you can forget to have." Zoro said.

"But they're not ours. We never had kind of weapons before." Chopper said while Vivi noticed something on those slips of paper on their other sides.

"Hey, I think there is more writing on the back of those slips." She said. They turned them around as everyone crowded around the two of them to read.

' _I knew what you two were planning before you gathered the courage to tell me. Next time, don't leave your doors open if you want to be sneaky, brats. Still didn't stop me from trying to get you two to stay home, though. I'd never say this to your faces…but I'm seriously going to miss the both of you. You can use these weapons from the arsenal so you won't both become mince-meat early in the game. If you poke your eyes out then that's on you to fix._

 _Have a safe trip my stupid sons._

 _Kureha'_

"That's amazing. The doctorine must've known what you were planning to do before you decided to leave the island with us. What a kind woman." Nami said tenderly while Naruto and Chopper felt tears welling up in their eyes as they agreed. Naruto managed to grin as he looked to her with another smile.

"Maybe she's rough around the edges…but…I don't think we could ask for a better mom. Right Chopper?"

"Yes," Chopper said in a choked voice as his own tears fell. He sniffed and placed the weapon back in the case while Naruto did the same with his own as they flicked the latched on and placed the boxes back in their bags. Unlike Naruto, he didn't have anywhere to hold those needles. He was going to have to find someway to do so or see if he can get something custom made for them for easy access, to not accidentally hurt himself. Heck, he needed practice throwing the things before he could use them in a fight. Same for Naruto as well.

Meanwhile, the other guys went back to partying to their heart's content, making a lot of noise. Even Carue seemed to have gotten better but he was also pretty hungry so he was downing a bunch of food at once. Probably hasn't eaten all day. Or however long he was frozen in that river. Luffy even came back around and just shoved the chopsticks into Chopper's hooves. Nami stood up and glared at them. "Those guys. Can't they see you're having sentimental moments here? I'm sorry, you two." She said before looking at and seeing Chopper put the chopsticks in his nose as the ends poked into his lower lip. "You too!?"

The sight definitely made Naruto crack up once Chopper turned into the rabbit's direction. "Hahaha! Oh man! You look crazy, Chops! Hahahaha!" Chopper couldn't help but laugh with him while Usopp grabbed a mug of booze and stood up. He raised his mug up high.

"ALRIGHT, STRAW HAT CREW! ATTENTION! LISTEN, ALL OF YOU!" He yelled out to everyone but they weren't paying him any mind. Sanji and Zoro were getting into a fight about something while food and plates were flying all over the place. Luffy was cheering on Sanji and Zoro, going for whoever was winning while Usopp tried desperately to get their attention. Naruto managed to stop laughing as he and Chopper looked at the carnage that was happening. Carue was choking on the food he shoved down his throat while Vivi was trying to help him get it down, especially with all of the water she was handing to him.

"Hey, you know…they're crazy." Chopper said.

"Yeah." Naruto grinned.

Chopper grinned and raised his hooves high. "I never had this much fun ever!"

"Good!" Nami said with a smile. When things slowly began to die down, Usopp found that as his moment to get back to the declarations.

"I PROPOSE A TOAST TO OUR NEW FRIENDS, CHOPPER AND NARUTO!"

"YEAH! CHOPPER! NARUTO!" Everyone screamed as Luffy and Ussop handed the two mugs while they all jumped in elation at their new crewmates. Chopper and Naruto laughed alongside them as they tapped both of their mugs together.

"Here's to our new adventure!" They declared to each other while they both downed their mugs entirely with everyone else laughing and watching the two chug. When their mugs were empty they both gave sighs of relief and a slight buzz, having never drunk alcohol before. Sure, they were both underaged but they weren't the only ones who were on this ship. It was the pirate life after all. The two just laughed and requested for another round before they began to hiccup and feel woozy. Blushes adorned their cheeks as they dropped their mugs and fell over on their faces. Zoro, Sanji, Luffy, Usopp, and Nami laughed at them.

"Are those two serious!? What a couple of freakin' lightweights! Hahahahaha!" Zoro laughed at them while Sanji and Usopp did the same.

"Something tells me we're going to have to give those two juice or soda whenever we have these parties!" Nami said while Usopp joined in.

"They'll probably think ever _that's_ too much! Maybe they just drink normal water!" They kept laughing but Vivi and Carue were the only ones who looked concerned for the two young men.

"Don't you all think we should help them?" She asked but Zoro just shrugged.

"They're pirates. They need to learn to hold down their booze. And if anything is wrong, they're the doctors here. They'll know what to do and how when they wake up." Speaking of which, they both gave out two slurs catching everyone's attention. Naruto got to all fours and staggard got to his legs while Chopper rolled to his back and sat up that way. He then turned around and pinwheeled his arms as to not loose his balance. Both of them looking dazed while they still had drunk blushes on their faces. Naruto was hunched over as his eyes focused on Zoro as he blinked slowly. Zoro just smirked and strolled over to them. "Heh, what'd I tell ya'? So, you two done with your little naps yet? You know we still gotta party to fini-"

*CRACK*

Everyone either gasps or jerked back when Naruto's left ear quickly wound back and slapped into Zoro's cheek. So much so that his face was sent crashing into an empty barrel, breaking it entirely.

"Naruto, what the hell was _that_ about!?" Nami yelled to him but the rabbit just looked to Zoro and lazily held up a finger to him.

"H-heard *hic* you t-talkin' s-s-shit 'bout us! Y-y-you's a b-bastard, ya' *hic* know!?" Sanji laughed at Zoro's misfortune while Zoro picked himself up. He winced as his right cheek stung something fierce and seemed to swell before he gave Naruto an evil look.

"You little brat. You have no idea who you're messin' with." Zoro growled but Chopper hopped in front of Naruto, tumbling a bit before he held out his arm to Zoro.

"Y-you stay *hic* away from little b-bro you…mosshead-jerk!" Chopper yelled while now Luffy and Usopp joined Sanji in the laugh fest. Zoro didn't find this turn of events funny and he steps towards the two, cracking his knuckles.

"You know, it's counter-productive for the doctors to suffer injuries. But I'd like to think of this as a small form of 'initiation'. You're both gonna get it." He growled a bit in his throat as he stepped to the two of them.

"Hey, they're drunk! They don't know what they're doing!" Vivi called out to Zoro hoping he'd see reason but he was lost to them.

Sanji just grabbed a smoke and sat down. "I say we watch the fireworks after these cheery blossoms." Vivi didn't think that was good at all as she didn't want Zoro to hurt either of them, especially with knowing how strong he was. But she could only watch as no one was getting up to help. Zoro stood over Chopper and smirked down at him.

"Also, word of warning kid. Don't think that turning into that monster guy is gonna help you. I got both strength _and_ speed."

"Thanks *hic* for the heads up!" Chopper declared as his body suddenly grew an extra foot and pretty pudgy looking. Zoro raised an eyebrow at his 'Kung-Fu Point' while Luffy and Sanji could vaguely remember Chopper taking this form while everyone else was surprised he had another form compared to the two they saw. Maybe even more. Chopper bounced on both legs one after the other while he put up a lazy guard.

" **Kung-Fu Point."**

"Okay. And what's this supposed to-"

He almost couldn't keep track of Chopper as he quickly moved his head backward to avoid a kick to the chin. Chopper lost his balance in the air and flipped backward but they he shot his legs out to Zoro's chest and striking him hard, sending him flying back and groaning when he landed. Sanji laughed at Zoro more.

"Hahaha! What's the matter mosshead!? Can't take a reindeer!?" That was the most he could get out before Naruto shot towards him as well with a cry of 'Don't ignore me!'. Sanji leaped back as Naruto punched the barrel he was on to pieces, which had Usopp scream in horror as the two just started to attack to of their strongest crewmates for no reason. Chopper dodged a punch from Zoro before he grabbed the swordsman's arm and swung around it once. When he was doing a handstand on it, he swung his arms around and sent a hard kick to the left side of his face, sending him flying through some food. For Sanji, he couldn't keep track of Naruto's ridiculous movements. Sanji sent a kick to Naruto's face but the drunken rabbit leaned back to avoid it. Sanji then sent a sweeping kick to Naruto's legs as to knock him to the ground with his equilibrium off but the rabbit pulled being able to not just hop over it, he landed on his _ears_ which he used to spring himself to Sanji and double kick him in the chest, sending him crashing into more food and Luffy.

"That...shouldn't have been possible," Sanji groaned.

"What's the matter cook!? Can't take a rabbit!?" Zoro yelled back to him as he was sporting some bruises himself.

"UP YOURS SHITTY SWORDSMAN!" He yelled to Zoro while still on Luffy. Luffy then tapped Sanji who looked to him before the rubber man pointed upwards. Sanji's their eyes widened when they found Naruto coming down with an ax kick. Luffy pushed Sanji off of him as he shot his arm up to grab Naruto's leg.

"Now come here!" He dragged him down to him but Naruto turned around and flipped forward when he got 10 feet close, which in turn had lifted Luffy off of his own feet. With impressive flexibility, Naruto grabbed Luffy's own ankles and flipped them both over so that he could stomp the Straw Hat wearing captain into the deck of the ship. He then bent forward to dodge a kick from Sanji while quickly, still standing on Luffy's back, flipped to his hands and sent a hard kick to his chest. Sanji yelled as he flew up onto the fall on his stomach in front of Usopp who screamed.

"WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!? WHY ARE THOSE TWO GOING NUTS!?" The long-nosed sniper yelled while he, Nami, Vivi, and Carue took cover.

"IT HAD TO HAVE BEEN THE ALCOHOL! IT'S MAKING THEM CRAZY!" Vivi yelled.

" _THEIR KICKING OUR STRONGEST TEAM'S ASS!"_ Usopp stressed out as he watched the destruction. Everything pertaining to the party was destroyed as the deck soon became littered with a few holes and indents of faces courtesy of Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji. All through the night, this hilarious ass-kicking continued until Drum Island has lost to them entirely.

Nami growled in her throat before shouting, "WHO ARE THESE TWO KIDDING!? THEY'RE JUST AS CRAZY AS YOU FOUR IDIOTS!"

"HEY!" Usopp yelled only to let out a peep when Naruto and Chopper set their sights on him when they got done beating the hell out of the Monster Trio. Usopp could swear he had just gone in his pants as he held his hands up.

"N-now guys! Hold up! You don't wanna do this! We're friends, remember!? I mean, yeah! Sure, I thought you were a monster and thought you should've been shot on the spot..but that's water under the bridge right now, right!?"

The two started to walk closer.

"GAH! O-o-okay! H-how about we have some o-of that ramen!? I'm not even full f-from that feast we just had!" Usopp cursed himself at his wrong choice of words as the two kept walking. He backed up until he hit the entrance cabin with a drunken reindeer and rabbit looking at him. Time for one last resort.

"I…I…I HAVE 8 MILLION FOLLOWERS THAT'LL RAIN DOWN THE EPITOME OF HELL IF YOU SO MUCH AS LAY A HAND ON ME!"

"..."

"…"

"Uhhh…"

They both laid a hand/hoof on him with glints in their drunken eyes.

" **GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

* * *

Good lord…..finally. I'm am SO sorry for the long wait for this story…but I was doing _other_ stories and I got a job like a few weeks after the 2nd update and this just wasn't at the forefront of my mind. BUT…I found a new One Piece story that brought my love for this one to even greater heights. I already love **"New Game Plus"** but now I have to put that in second place…as **"This Bites!"** by **Xomniac** kicks every single kind of ass! Honestly, I have no idea how Cross-Brain had done it but they took one OC heading into One Piece and then just started to cause nothing but pure chaos! The characters are developed, the plot is hilariously deep, the power scaling is realistic…did I say it was also hilarious? Okay. Just making sure. Honestly, it was so good I had to turn **mellra** to it and he agree's with me! And thanks to that, we have a few new awesome ideas we can't wait to incorporate!

Nothing to scathingly obvious unless we plan for it to be (which we'll do sometimes) but also nothing to major. This story is its own but I find it nice to throw in some respect to an author now and then if they're story(ies) is awesome. But seriously, this story will have more Naruto/One Piece elements than " **This Bites!"** elements so no need to worry about that. We know where to give credit where its due. Anyway, it's funny I managed to get this out 6 hours before I have to wake up for class. But it's just one class and it's painting so it doesn't sound like it'll be too bad. Besides having to walk in the cold of course. That's _always_ bad.

Now I get to hand this off to **mellra**.

Rest in Rabbit Pieces!

Merry Late-ass Christmas!

Happy Late-ass New Year! Here's to 2017!


	4. Welcome to Alabasta

Disclaimer: While we're both awesome, we don't own the stuff we write about.

Chapter 4:

Welcome to Alabasta

It seemed like a normal day on the deck of the Going Merry. Zoro was napping, Nami was plotting their course, Sanji was interrogating Luffy about their missing food supplies...wait, what?

"C'mon Luffy," the blond chef huffed as he glared down at his nervous looking captain. "I properly divided the food supplies to last us til Alabasta, yet food keeps disappearing every night. If you're not responsible, then who is?"

"I seriously don't know what you're talkin' about," a sweaty and shifty eyed Luffy mumbled while whistling out of the corner of his mouth.

Sanji's visible eye twitched as he grabbed the rubber man by his face and growled, "Don't even try to make any excuses, you're a terrible liar."

Luffy refused to meet his cook's eye as he glanced off to the side. However, as he did so, he let out a soft belch. Sanji, instead of snapping, let go of Luffy's face and said calmly, "Hey, is that some leftovers I see stuck to your mouth?"

"CRAP! IT'S STILL THERE?!" Luffy cried out in panic and he searched his face for the treacherous morsel.

"SO, IT WAS YOU!" Sanji bellowed as he sent Luffy flying with a kick. Sanji turned to appeal to Nami in buying a refrigerator with a lock on it as a smoking Luffy lay on the deck. Meanwhile, Usopp, Carue, and Chopper were fishing off the side of the Merry, covertly eating some of the food they helped Luffy 'acquire.'

"We should really catch something, for Sanji's sake at least," Usopp stated after gulping down what he had in his mouth. Carue and a sweating Chopper nodded in agreement, hastily trying to destroy the 'evidence'. They weren't quick enough, however, as Nami noticed them and proceeded to brain the trio with some well-placed punches.

As he lay groaning next to a still floored Luffy, Chopper's sensitive nose picked up a scent coming from his captain's mouth and he promptly paled under his fur in existential terror when he recognized the smell. "Luffy," he whispered with no small amount of dread, "please tell me you didn't get into Naruto's ramen stash!"

Luffy blinked in confusion as he looked over at his new doctor. "Um, I think I might have snagged a packet or two. Why?" he asked innocently.

Chopper then got on his knees and looked to be praying. "Oh, you poor fool. You've doomed us all!" the reindeer doctor bemoaned as he mentally counted down in his head from ten.

"Huh? What do you-?" Luffy began before Chopper's countdown reached zero and the door to the food supplies was nearly blasted off its hinges.

Out of the darkness rose a demon straight from the pits of hell, and it had a cotton tail while staring with eyes of blue flames. The demon stalked forward and said in a voice colder than a glacier. "Who. Stole. My. **RAMEN?!** "

Without any hesitation, everyone pointed to a confused looking Luffy who had pulled himself up into a sitting position. He soon found his assistant animal-doctor-guy standing before him, his expression no longer apocalyptic but had this eerie calm about it. Like the eye of the storm. "Luffy," Naruto began in a voice that sounded deceptively friendly, "you didn't by chance take some of my ramen without permission, did you?"

In the deepest, darkest parts of Luffy's subconscious, the part that actually had any form of self-preservation and rationality, was screaming at the straw hat wearing pirate to lie, to deny it, to run, anything! Sadly, the message was buried under his diamond hard density. Luffy sheepishly laughed while scratching the back of his head and said, "Ah, yeah. Sorry about that, Naruto."

Those with less...shall we say obliviousness…to them swore they saw the image of the Grim Reaper rise behind the rabbit Zoan. However, as soon as the image came, it vanished. Naruto said with a cheerful smile, "Oh, well, no harm done. Say, Luffy, do you know what happens when you put your tongue against metal in the cold?"

Luffy cocked his head and squinted his eyes before shaking his head. Naruto's smile, if anything, got wider, showing all his razor-sharp teeth and oversized incisors. "Would you like me to give you a visual demonstration?" the user of the Hop-Hop Fruit asked.

Luffy grinned and said, "Sure!"

Said grin was promptly wiped off his face as Naruto dug his gloved fist into Luffy's mouth. "GAH!" the rubber man tried to squirm away, but the rabbit man's grip was too tight. Pulling on Luffy's elastic tongue, Naruto walked over to Merry's mast and, with practiced ease, tied Luffy's tongue around the mast in a constrictor knot. Naruto turned towards his captain, the still cheerful smile on his face.

"It might not be the same thing, but I think you get the general idea," Naruto said as if discussing the weather. Suddenly, he was right in Luffy's face as said pirate tried unsuccessfully to untie his tongue. Jabbing a gloved finger in his face, Naruto said in a voice that belonged more to a demon than a rabbit/preteen, "Don't. Touch. The ramen." With that, Naruto went over to the area of the deck that contained Nami's tangerine grove. The navigator having previously permitted the boy a small corner of the garden to grow his own plants and vegetables. The crew could only stare after the boy in stunned silence before Chopper broke it with a weary sigh as he went into his Heavy Point and began helping his captain untangle his tongue.

"You're lucky," Chopper muttered as he worked yet all the crew could hear. "When Naruto caught me eating his ramen once, well, let's just say between him and an angry doctorine, I'd choose the doctorine any day!" he finished with a shudder, finally getting the muscle loose enough so it snapped back into Luffy's mouth. The other Straw Hats awkwardly coughed and went back to their business. Vivi, meanwhile, decided to educate the crew on more of the situation in Alabasta. Apparently, the leader of the organization they were going up against, Baroque Works, was none other than Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Not only that, but the man was considered a hero in Alabasta thanks to his help in ridding the land of pirate raiders. She then went on to explain the size of Baroque Works as the rest of the crew paid attention (save Zoro who fell asleep again).

There are thirteen agents who were paired with a female partner with similar strength starting at the top with Crocodile as Mr. 0 and his partner Ms. All Sunday. The five below Crocodile are called officer agents, most of whom have Devil's Fruit powers and carry out the most important missions. They have subordinate officers called Billions, who number 200 strong. Then are the frontier agents, who act as leaders to 1800 members called Millions and normally carry out bounty hunting jobs.

Luffy, meanwhile, only got out of this information that all he needed to do was kick Crocodile's ass and Alabasta would be safe. Nami, meanwhile, came to the correct conclusion that the officer agents would be gathering in Alabasta for their end goal of taking over the kingdom. Feeling confident that they'd be able to win, the rest of the crew went about their daily routine. While Luffy and Usopp went back to fishing (using Carue as bait), the doctor brothers decided to go practice with their new weapons. Several targets had been set up along the ship's railing, and both Zoan users stood a-little-ways apart from each other before blurring into motion. Between each of Chopper's hooves appeared a bundle of needles that he'd pulled from his medical bag. Rearing his arms back, the reindeer-human let them fly with each needle hitting important parts of the target.

Naruto, meanwhile, had a boomerang shuriken in each hand before crossing his arms and letting them fly out in opposite directions. The bladed curves flew out a ways before returning from their trip, each one slicing through the targets before meeting in the center and being caught by the rabbit-boy.  
Nami, who had been watching between keeping an eye on the weather, let out an impressed whistle at the display. "Wow, you two are getting really good with those! And you've only started training with them a couple days ago. What's your secret?"

Both Zoan's stiffened slightly at that before Chopper was the one to answer with a stiff smile. "Well, when we were training under the doctrine, she'd sometimes throw stuff at us whenever we'd forget a step in a medical procedure."

"Or when she was hammered," Naruto piped up.

"Or when we forgot to put our stuff away," Chopper continued, one of his eyes starting to twitch.

"Basically, whenever she felt like," Naruto concluded, his eyes joining his older brother's in their twitching.

"Oookay," Nami began uncomfortably, remembering the witch doctor's bedside manners, or lack thereof. "But how does that-?"

"It helps," Naruto interrupted, "because we have enough second-hand experience with thrown weapons to pick up on it fast enough."

"Wouldn't that be kind of, I don't know, traumatizing?" Vivi piped up after she had finished manhandling Luffy and Usopp for using Carue as bait.

"You have no idea," the doctors said in sync with dead looks in their eyes. The princess and the navigator looked away awkwardly at this when Vivi noticed the steam rising from the ocean and pointed it out to the others. Nami informed them that the steam was a result of underwater volcanoes erupting and will sometime in the distant future form a new island. Most of the more...childish...members of the crew were amazed by that (and Sanji, who would have agreed with anything Nami said even if it was as something ridiculous as say 'the sun is purple'). At that moment, the amount of steam surrounding their ship thickened until it was like fog.

Unfortunately for them, said fog gave them zero visibility and smelled strongly of sulfur. Even with his eyesight and sense of smell cut off though, Naruto's sense of hearing was still second to none, and the rabbit boy could have sworn he heard another ship approaching. However, before Naruto could determine if they were in a danger of crashing or not, the other ship started moving away from them. The ship left the Straw Hats the most unusual of parting gifts. When the fog had cleared, Luffy and Usopp could only gawk at the odd man who was hanging from a still strung up Carue.

What was so odd about him, you might ask? Well to put it bluntly...he was a drag queen. 'He' wore a long pink coat over a ballerina's outfit, complete with tutu, ballet slippers, and swan shaped figurines on 'his' back. Not to mention 'he' had a thick layer of makeup covering 'his' face. There was no denying his gender, however, with the manly face and body. The caught cross-dresser was also surprised from this strange turn of events so much that he accidentally let go of the giant duck and fell right into the ocean, which the Straw Hats fished him out of. The flamboyantly dressed man thanked the pirates profusely for saving him, explaining he couldn't swim due to eating a Devil's Fruit. Usopp curiously asked which one, and the cross-dresser figured he'd give them a 'show' for his gratitude while he waited his crew to come pick him up.

And he started said demonstration by slamming his right hand into Luffy's face, much to the shock of the crew. Zoro was already pulling out his swords when the stranger told them to wait. And, much to their surprise, the man now was the spitting image of Luffy! Granted, he was still dressed as a ballerina, but besides that the resemblance was unmistakable from his voice to his body's shape. Using his left hand, the man touched his face and changed it back to his original appearance and explained that this was the power of the Clone Clone Fruit.

One by one, the transvestite used his right hand to copy each of the Straw Hat's likeness (save Sanji who was below deck at this time). When he got to Naruto, the doctor stared in wonder at his copied rabbit face asked, "Wow, you can even copy my appearance?! Does that mean you can copy Devil's Fruit abilities?"

The ballerina smiled as he answered, "Sad to say, all I can copy is appearances. And even then, I can't use them for much more than disguises. If I want to actually fight or something similar, I need to use my own shape for my 'Oh, Come My Way' Kenpo. Though my disguises are flawless, from their faces to their bodies~!" He finished this last statement by changing into Nami and unbuttoning 'her' top, causing the navigator to beat the holy hell out of the cross-dresser for flashing 'herself'.

With the cheering of Luffy, Usopp, Naruto, and Chopper, the man continued his performance showing that any face he touched in the past he could mimic. He then went through a small parade of faces, though when he got to the face of a middle-aged man with long black hair and a squared goatee, Vivi gasped in recognition. After his performance ended, the drag queen and the 'kiddie' members of the crew laughed and danced and joked around until the other man's swan shaped ship pulled up. However, when the men on the ship called the Clone Man by name, the Straw Hats were shocked to hear that he was none other than Mr. 2 Bon Clay of Baroque Works!

After he had left, Vivi profusely apologized for not realizing it was him, saying that she'd only heard of the drag queen assassin by his appearance...which was described to her exactly how he looked.  
"Want me to give you an eye exam?" Naruto asked dryly, pulling out an eye chart from his medical bag.  
Vivi, however, ignored the rabbit boy in favor of worrying that one of the faces Mr. 2 wore was that of her father, King Nefetari Cobra! This meant that Crocodile had access to an exact duplicate of the ruler for the kingdom he was trying to overthrow. The smarter and more analytical members of the crew were worried about these implications, however Zoro pointed out a good point: now that they met Mr. 2, they could set up countermeasures for him.

Naruto nodded as he added, "We also know he can't fight using our abilities, so it'd be hard to mistake him for one of us on a battlefield. Maybe something we can do if we split up is have everyone give a demonstration on what they can do so there isn't a shadow of a doubt who they are."

The other pirates nodded at this train of thought and Naruto gave a mischievous grin. "He also forgot to take two faces while he was here. First there's Sanji, who's still downstairs."

"And who's the second?" Usopp asked after doing a quick mental count of who all Mr. 2 copied.

Naruto's grin widened as his rabbit features receded into his human ones. "Me," he said simply.  
The other Straw Hats sans Chopper starred in surprise at the now human rabbit boy.

Just then, Sanji came up saying, "Dinner will be ready in a minute Nami and Vivi~!" he then noticed Naruto and asked in confusion, "Uh, where did the kid come from?"

Naruto gave the chef the stink eye as he said, "It's me, Pervy Cook."

Zoro snorted at the nickname the boy gave his fellow blonde and Sanji's visible eye widened as he gasped, "Naruto?! Wow, completely didn't know you even HAD a human form! I mean you DID say you ate a Devil Fruit and all, though honestly, before you told us about your Devil Fruit, I figured you were either like Chopper who was a normal reindeer before eating his fruit which would mean you were a normal rabbit, an experiment the old witch made, or the love child between one of those shitty Laphan's and a human!" He then adopted a thoughtful look, "Though with those whiskers on your face, I guess it's still possible. That would make you half Laphan before you became a full-on rabbit with the fruit. Or even..."

A tic-mark appeared on Naruto's forehead as Chopper face-hooved with a groan, "Oh, NOW you did it."  
Naruto then adopted an angelic smile that instantly gave off bad vibes as he called out in a sing-song voice, "Oh Sanji~!"

"Yeah?" the chef asked warily.

In the next instant, Naruto was right up in his guard in full rabbit form and his hand drawn back in his signature attack. **"RABBIT PEACE!"** he roared as he slammed his fist into Sanji's abdomen.

"AAAAAAaaaaaahhhh!" Sanji screamed out as he was sent flying into the distance.

"GO SOAK YOUR HEAD, PERVY CHEF!" Naruto called out to him as he turned back in a huff. He then noticed all the crew giving him surprised looks. "What?" he asked. The Straw Hats wisely decided to go back about their business as they waited for Sanji to swim his way back to the Merry.

A few days later, the Straw Hats encountered a Sea Cat (which Vivi prevented the crew from eating via blunt force trauma to the head), which was apparently a sign that they were approaching Alabasta. The crew then noticed a blockade of ships with the Baroque Works symbol on them were in their way. They began preparing for if they ran into Mr. 2 again as Nami expertly navigated them around the blockade without having to fire a single shot. Dipping into the brother doctors' medical supplies, the crew tied medical tape around their left arms to indicate they were who they said they were. Along with Naruto's suggestion, they were prepared for any impostor.

Usopp tried to give a shaky pep talk to the crew (which was largely summed up as run the hell away if the situation was too dangerous) but was quickly overshadowed by Luffy's confident speech that the things on their left arms would mark their friendship. He then kind of killed the mood by saying they needed to find a restaurant first and then head to Alabasta. They tried, they truly, truly tried, to get Luffy to get his priorities straight. Of course, the second the Merry docked, Luffy completely ignored said instructions and ran off to find food.

"Damn, didn't know rubber could move that fast," Naruto whistled as he eyed the dust cloud Luffy's departure caused.

"That's what she said!" Chopper giggled into his hooves. That got the brothers into a laughing fit until Nami quieted them by way of introducing their heads to her fist.

"Will you two be serious?! We already have one man-child to look after, we don't need any more!" she then sighed, "Luffy's completely clueless about the bounty placed on his head. I wish he'd pay attention to details like that, especially in a country as large as Alabasta!"

Zoro shrugged indifferently. "Just leave him be. For now, we should go and eat something as well. We can think about all that stuff later."

Vivi then gasped and then pointed out a very distinctive ship not far from theirs. Apparently, it belonged to Mr. 3 who they had encountered shortly before arriving at Drum. This was a cause for concern, as it meant that their enemies could very well be in this city. Keeping their eyes open, the crew went to resupply at the market. Sanji was soon swooning over Nami and Vivi thanks to the clothes he bought for them, which made them look like exotic dancers. The guys were dressed in more practical clothing, yet Chopper and Naruto didn't seem to care much about their state of dress given they were too busy trying to plug their noses from the overwhelming smell of the many perfumes Nano Hana was known for.

"Most days I love my powers," Naruto groaned as he attempted to use his scarf as a filter, "then there are days like this when I realize they're truly 'Devil' fruits!"

"Do dink dat's bad?" Chopper moaned as he desperately tried to cover his nose with his hooves. "Dry habbing a bose like mine 24/7!"

Nami, of course, decided to tease the two animal themed doctors by spraying some more perfume on herself, causing Sanji to continue fawning over her until Zoro dryly asked him if he was retarded. Naruto growled as he got up, brushing the sand off his new clothing. While he still had his gloves, scarf, and large hat, Naruto had traded his black track suit for a Perahan tunban that was orange with black stripes. A hole was cut in the back for his tail, but other than that he'd pass for a regular civilian fully dressed. Naruto marched up to Nami before swiping the perfume from her and flinging it as hard as he could down the street. The bottle flew and unfortunately smacked into their captain's head, who just so happens was running from the Marines...wait, what?!

"Hey! What hit me?!" Luffy cried out looking around. He then spotted his crew and, like a dumbass, ran up to them with the Marines still hot on his tail. This in turn had the Marines recognize them as Straw Hats and began to give chase. A white-haired Marine seemed to shoot out a fist made of smoke before it was intercepted by an orange hat wearing shirtless man who had flames licking his body. Luffy seemed to recognize the stranger who helped save them and the man, who Luffy called Ace, greeted him in turn.

Ace stated he'd catch up after he held off the Marines, allowing the Straw Hats escaped to their ship.  
Once they reached the ship, Vivi gave her loyal duck friend an important assignment: deliver a letter to King Cobra detailing all she knew regarding Baroque Works and Crocodile as the crew sailed up the river to the next city where they'd go to meet with the rebel leaders and hopefully end the conflict before it began.

Carue agreed with a quack and ran into the desert with his namesake's speed. Back on the Going Merry, the crew made a startling discovery. Ace, the man who helped them, was actually Luffy's older brother! Luffy informed them that Ace was also a pirate who had left for the Grand Line before him, and that he was strong enough to beat Luffy even before the Fire Man had eaten a Devil's Fruit! Luffy confidently stated he could beat him now, but he was soon eating his words as Ace knocked him over when he leaped onto the deck.

Ace introduced himself and asked Luffy and co. if they'd like to join him on the Whitebeard Pirate's crew. Luffy of course refused, to which Ace just laughed off saying that Whitebeard was the greatest pirate he'd ever known. The Flame Man then stated he'd be helping Whitebeard become the Pirate King over Luffy, to which Luffy confidently replied he'd just fight him. Ace just smiled in return, and after denying Nami's invitation to stick around gave Luffy a piece of paper saying it'd help them find each other again. Ace then went to his own ship, a small yellow thing that looked like a surfboard with a motor attached to it. He then told the Straw Hats he was hunting down a man who betrayed the Whitebeard Pirates by killing a crew mate, and since Ace was the man's commander it was his duty to hunt him down. That was when he mentioned that the man was now calling himself Blackbeard.

"Hey, bro," Naruto whispered out of the corner of his mouth. "Isn't he the name of the creep…?"

"Who attacked Drum? Yeah, I think so," Chopper nodded in agreement with a dark look on his normally cheerful face. While the brothers were thankful that the pirate's attack had driven Wapol away for a time, as doctors it infuriated them the amount of damage the man and his crew had caused to their home island.

Ace bid farewell to the crew and his brother, promising that they'd meet again in the New World. The man then turned his feet into flames which started the engine on his ship, causing it to speed off into the distance. With his sensitive hearing, Naruto could make out the sound of burning and breaking wood as well as screams a few minutes later.

"Welp, I guess we won't have to worry about Baroque Works sending in reinforcements anymore. Thanks Ace," he murmured to himself with a sharp toothed grin. After getting changed into their desert attire (Sanji bawled like a baby when the girls put on an additional layer of clothing), the crew then began plotting their course of action. By following the Sandora River, the crew would dock at a city called Elumalu and cross the desert to reach the Yuba Oasis. Vivi emphasized that she hoped to end this peacefully by talking to the leader of the rebels and ruining Baroque Works' plans.

The city of Elumalu turned out to be a ghost town despite being formerly known as the green city.  
Shortly after the crew landed, a strange animal that looked to be a cross between a seal and a turtle popped out of the beach near them. Vivi explained that they were called Kung-Fu Dugong, and their name soon became apparent when Usopp got too close to it and ended up getting the tar beat out of him. Seeing this, Naruto grinned excitedly. "Here we go!" He laughed while cracking his knuckles. "I haven't had a really good fight since we left Drum! Here's hoping this guy puts up more of a fight than the Laphan's or that Pawn guy did."

"I think his name was Chess, Naru," Chopper interjected.

"I know what I said," the rabbit doctor replied smoothly.

"Did you know Luffy already beat the Dugong?" his brother deadpanned.

"Huh?" Turning, Naruto saw Luffy standing victoriously over an out cold turtle-seal. "Dammit Luffy! I basically called dibs! Respect the dibs man!"

The Straw Hats then found themselves getting ready for the track into the desert and quite a few rations lighter. Apparently, by defeating the Dugong, the aquatic mammal had decided to become Luffy's disciple with the rest of its herd joined in. They were insisting on traveling with the crew into the desert because of this, but because of how difficult it would be to travel in a desert with over a dozen Dugong in tow it took Chopper's smooth negotiation skills to bribe them into staying for food. Though still bummed that he couldn't get to spar with anyone, Naruto did challenge a few of them to a fight once their business in Alabasta was over, to which more than a few agreed.

As they traveled, Vivi told them of the reason behind the rebellion which had to do with a three year long drought that has been sucking the majority of the kingdom dry. Blame fell on the royal family when it was 'discovered' that a substance called Dance Powder was being shipped to the palace. This powder can cause rain to fall in the area it is used but at the price of taking all the rain from the surrounding areas. Naturally, this was all a set up planned by Crocodile and Baroque Works.

Naturally, this pissed off quite a few members of the crew when they saw how upset it made Vivi seeing how her country was falling apart thanks to the Warlord. After relieving some tension on the abandoned buildings, Luffy declared that they needed to hurry so he could kick Crocodile's ass, a sentiment shared by the others. As it turned out though? Traveling through the desert was very, very hot. It was bad for most of the crew, but the two Zoan's of the Straw Hats had it the worst due to both their fur coats and living their entire lives on a winter island. It had gotten so bad, that Naruto had went with his human form while Chopper was laid out flat on a makeshift sled being pulled by Zoro.

The reindeer-human would have turned into his full human form as well, but it was still too furry for their current environment. "Vivi, no offense to your family, but whoever decided that it was a good idea to build a kingdom in the middle of this hellhole is a complete and utter fucking moron!" Naruto panted out as he took off his hat to wipe some of the excess sweat off his forehead.

"Watch it, you shitty rabbit-brain!" Sanji snapped at his fellow blonde before turning to the princess and said, "Though you do seem to be holding up pretty well, Vivi."

"Well, I was born and raised in this country," Vivi replied with a shrug.

The heat was also getting to the others and tempers were starting to flare. When Luffy tried to sneak nearly a gallon of water in the form of a 'sip' with his rubbery cheeks, it nearly escalated into a full-on brawl between Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp. This was broken up by Vivi, who warned them that fighting would just tire them out faster. The group agreed to stop for food and rest at the next rock they passed, and Luffy was left carrying the bags after a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. After what felt like hours, Usopp spotted a rock in the distance with his sniper's eye. Eager for a break, Luffy seemed to catch his second wind and nearly broke the sound barrier with how fast he moved despite carrying all the supplies.

Seeing this, Naruto let out a sigh as he muttered, "This is gonna suck." He then went back into his rabbit form and got ready to run after his moronic captain.

Noticing this, Zoro called out, "What are you doing, Naruto?"

The preteen leveled the first mate a flat look. "Do you honestly trust Luffy alone with all our supplies for longer than a minute?"

Zoro paled at the implication and shouted out, "What are you waiting for?! Run rabbit, run!"  
For some reason, Naruto couldn't help but think the word 'title drop' before shrugging it off and complying by running after his captain with matching speeds. Fortunately, while sand was a bitch to get out of his clothes and was hot as hell, the consistency of it was similar enough to snow that Naruto had no trouble speeding along. He soon came upon Luffy who had just reached a large rock formation and was collapsed in the blessedly cool shade when they noticed something peculiar at the same time. Namely several herons who were sprawled across the nearby sands that looked as if they'd been either roughed up or sick.

Luffy naturally panicked while Naruto got into doctor mode. "Luffy, hand me one of the canteens, asap!" the rabbit man barked as he got out a clean rag from his medical pouch.

Running up to one of the birds, Naruto knelt as Luffy came up beside him. Taking the canteen, his captain handed him, the co-doctor of the Straw Hats poured some of the cool water on the rag and began gently wiping the sand and dirt from the bird to get a better assessment of its injuries before treating it. However, when wiping the dirt and grime away, Naruto noticed that there weren't any visible injuries and that the dirt was just that, dirt. No bruises, not lacerations, no broken bones, no nothing! Growing suspicious, Naruto cocked one of his long ears and placed it to the bird's chest. One of the benefits of being both a rabbit and a doctor? No need for stethoscopes. Listening in, Naruto heard the bird's heartbeat. It was strong and clear, though it was a bit fast like someone who was afraid of being caught...Oh, son of a bitch!

"Luffy," Naruto said in an even tone as he stood up and brushed the sand off his clothes.

"Is the bird gonna be okay, Naruto?" Luffy asked anxiously.

"Oh, the bird seems fine, though I doubt that will be the case when we ask Sanji for a nice dinner of cooked poultry," Naruto finished with a dangerous grin.

All the birds, while still maintaining their facade of being 'helpless', were now starting to break out in a nervous sweat. Luffy at first seemed confused before the thought of food overrode his thinking process and a line of drool started dripping from his now gaping mouth. "That sounds yummy!" he finally said through his saliva.

Naruto nodded as he noticed the birds were now sweating at a level some would deem dangerous to do in a desert. Still speaking casually, Naruto continued, "Why don't you go back to the group and get him?"

"Right!" Luffy agreed before disappearing in a cloud of dust.  
The moment his captain left to get their chef, Naruto turned back to the birds and cracked his knuckles.

"Now, would you feathered rats prefer to be roasted, baked, or broiled? Of course, I'll have to tenderize you all first!"

The birds seemed to have a silent conversation before one of them, presumably the leader, squawked out, ("The jig is up! Book it!")

With that, the birds leaped to their feet and ran off as fast as they could from the surprisingly menacing rabbit boy. Naruto chuckled as he went back to the supplies and grabbed one of the barrels of water, taking a sip of the cool liquid before saying, "I guess if this whole pirate/doctor thing doesn't pan out, I could always try acting. That was fun!"

Shortly after, the rest of the Straw Hats arrived and Luffy was disappointed to see his potential bird feast had flown the coop. Vivi apologetically explained that those birds were called 'Swindle-Herons' who pretend to be hurt to steal supplies from unsuspecting travelers. Fortunately, Naruto could see through their ruse and prevent their stuff from being stolen, though Luffy was still bummed about how he was nearly tricked and how he missed out on a good meal.

Naruto was about to turn back into his human form to better weather the heat when his sensitive ears picked up a nonhuman voice calling out, "Help! For the love of all that is sexy, help!"

At first, Naruto was about to leave the voice, figuring it was just nature taking its course, but as the screaming continued, Naruto's slight hero complex took hold. "Chopper, can you come with me for a moment? There's something I wanna check out."

The reindeer Zoan groaned before getting out of the comfortable shade and following his brother out into the hot sand. Fortunately, they did not have to go far, and the source of the screaming came to them. A camel with prominent eyelashes was running for its life from a lizard nearly as big as the Going Merry! Without a moment's hesitation, both Naruto and Chopper got into ready stances as the camel ran pass them. Naruto leaped into the air over the oversized gecko while Chopper went into his 'Heavy Point' and wound his ham sized fist back.

 **"Guillotine Crush!"** they shouted simultaneously as they struck. Chopper gave the lizard a powerful uppercut while Naruto crashed into the back of its skull with a falling 'Rabbit's Peace'. The force of the blow caused the reptile to clench its teeth so hard they shattered and its eyes nearly popped out of its skull. With some help from the Monster Trio, the crew had a fresh supply of what Vivi called Sandora Monitor Lizard meat, with a shocked yet grateful camel in tow. The desert heat worked in their favor for once as the meat was easy to cook on the hot rocks. Naruto, having gone back to his human form, gladly tried some as he was less vegetarian minded when not covered in fur. Meanwhile, Luffy decided to try riding the camel as it would make travel across the desert much easier. It appeared the camel had other plans, however, as he threw the rubber man off with his teeth.

"I thank you for saving my life back there, as I'm a harmless camel passing by," the camel spoke, though to anyone who wasn't part animal it just sounded like a regular camel's grunts. As such, it fell on both Naruto and Chopper to act as translators. "Now, although I do give you humans a ride, I'm the type who prefer the company of the female persuasion."

This of course led to a monumental beat down as the males of the crew realized they were being snubbed. Nami, of course, was not at all offended by the camel's ploy of...let's be polite and call it chivalry. She gave the camel a suggestive smile and thanked him for his generosity. The orange haired thief then wondered what to call the camel.

"Idiot," Luffy suggested.

"Dumbass," Sanji huffed around his cigarette.

"Duffus," was Usopp's suggestion.

"How about 'Eyelash'?" Nami asked with a tone of finality, to which the camel happily agreed.  
As Zoro muttered about that being the weirdest suggestion yet, wondering how she arrived at that name, Naruto turned to his brother and said in a tone so low that the humans couldn't hear, "Am I the only one weirded out by the fact that a camel is trying to flirt with our human navigator and said navigator is encouraging it?"

Chopper nodded at his little brother's words. "Humans are weird, but that camel is even weirder," he agreed.

"At least the Pervy Cook's the same species. I don't even wanna know what that camel is thinking," Naruto said with a shudder.

"Maybe a reverse furry?" Chopper suggested and there was an awkward silence as both boys pondered this statement.

"Let us never speak of this again," Naruto said in a cheerful voice.

"Agreed," Chopper said with equal fake cheerfulness.

"Let's go, Eyelash!" Nami called out as she and Vivi ran far ahead of the group on the Pervert Camel, causing the others to struggle to keep up. After several more hours of wandering through the desert with the sun beating down on them and Luffy hallucinating from eating a toxic cactus (to which Chopper made good use of his needle throwing practice to sedate his crazed captain), night finally began to fall and with it the temperature. While the two Zoan's were fine in the sub-zero temperature, the others needed to find shelter quick.

Thankfully, even with a sandstorm brewing up, they could finally make out the city of Yuba. To their horror, however, the city was right in the center of a titanic sandstorm that made any ones they previously encountered look like a gentle breeze! Once the sandstorm subsided, the crew was greeted by the site of a ghost town instead of a lively oasis that Vivi had described. The only person there was a thin, haggard looking man who was busy trying to dig for water.

When they asked about the rebellion's whereabouts, the old man acted hostile as he finally spat out that the rebellion had moved their operations to Katorea after the frequent sandstorms had dried up the village's water three years ago. When asked where Katorea was, Vivi shakily answered that it was by Nanohana, the village they had sailed from! The old man had recognized Vivi's name and shocked her by revealing himself to be Toto, the father of her childhood friend Kohza who was also the leader of the rebellion. He revealed that he still had faith in the king and he begged her to stop the rebellion. He had tried himself, but no one in the rebellion would listen to him, his own son included. Now their supplies are running low and they are preparing for one last major offensive, no matter how suicidal it might be.

Vivi put on an encouraging smile, one that Naruto knew from his time in the orphanage was faked, and reassured Toto that she'd stop the rebels no matter what. That evening, most of the crew went into one of the many abandoned inns to sleep for the night while only Luffy and Naruto remained outside with Toto, who had resumed his digging for water. As Luffy went to talk to the elderly man, Naruto sat on the roof of the inn to gaze up at the night sky.

 _'There are so many stars,'_ the rabbit boy thought as he stared up at the many twinkling lights. _'You couldn't see these many stars in Drum, only snow and clouds.'  
_

This right here was one of the main reasons he agreed to join Luffy and his crew. Sure, he would have joined anyway with his brother joining and all, but his reasons were a bit more complex than Chopper's. While he did want to find a cure for all diseases like Chopper did, he was even more interested in exploring the Grand Line. All his life, he'd been stuck on snowy Drum Island, never seeing the world outside of ice and snow.

He knew from the matrons at the orphanage that he'd been found in the wreckage of a ship shortly off the shore of Drum, and part of him had hoped to find out where he came from. Who were his birth parents? Were they still alive? Did they love him? These were questions that plagued most of his childhood before finding the Doctor and Chopper. Now that he was on the open ocean though...part of his old desire was starting to come back.

Breaking himself out of his melancholy, Naruto looked down and noticed his captain was helping Toto dig for water. Unfortunately, he was doing it in a way that was filling up Toto's own hole. Rolling his eyes, Naruto leaped down to join the two.

"Hey Luffy, what's up?" he asked the straw hat wearing Rubber Man.

Luffy looked up at him with a grin of a child who got to sit at the grown-up table, "I'm helping the old man dig holes!"

Naruto raised a fur hidden eyebrow as he noticed that his 'helping' was in fact causing more work for the frustrated Toto. Deciding that trying to explain this to Luffy would be like teaching Confucius to a monkey, Naruto reworded his question. "I can see that Luffy, though can I ask why?"

Luffy kept up his smile and said, "Cause this town's the old man's treasure."

Naruto was surprised by this for a half a second before remembering how Luffy had stubbornly defended the Doctor's pirate flag back on Drum. If there was one thing you can say about Luffy is that he always supports and respects a person's dream. Gaining a light grin, Naruto cracked his knuckles before offering, "Can I help?"

"Sure thing!" Luffy replied as he went back to his own ineffectual digging.

As previously stated, sand was of a similar consistency to snow and one of the perks of having the powers of a snowshoe rabbit? Amazing burrowing abilities! So, like an Olympic swimmer, Naruto dived into the sand and soon gallons upon gallons of sand was being tossed out of the newly formed hole. Unlike Luffy's though, Naruto's excess sand landed in a neat pile away from the other holes. In a matter of minutes, Naruto had dug over a dozen holes each over six feet deep. Luffy, not one to be outdone, picked up his own pace (finally listening to Toto's instructions and keeping his excess sand away from the other holes) and to the old man's amazement, the two pirates were able to complete over a month's worth of digging in only a few hours! Before long however, both boys grew tired from both exertion and from their previous trek through the desert and fell asleep.

The next day, Toto bid the pirates farewell and good luck in stopping the war. He also gave Luffy a gift: after the two boys had fallen asleep, Toto had kept digging and, thanks to their combined work, was able to find a small amount of water which he put into a personalize barrel for Luffy which he gladly accepted, promising to treasure it. The crew began their long trek to the rebel base, when Luffy made a surprising announcement.

"I quit," he said simply as he sat down at the base of a withered tree.

...I said it was startling, I never said it was eloquent.

As most of the crew questioned their captain's already questionable sanity/intelligence, Luffy explained his reasoning to Vivi. He wanted to 'kick Crocodile's ass.' He then elaborated that even if the crew could get to the rebels in time and Vivi was able to get them to stand down, it wasn't likely going to stop Crocodile. Plus, the fact was that they were pirates and their presence wouldn't be able to help matters with the rebels at all. The crew was surprised at their captain's moment of insight.

"He's got a point, Vivi," Naruto agreed as he pulled out a carrot that he'd been rationing and holding it in his mouth like a cigar (which was quite comical as he was in his human form now). "And besides, if Crocodile is this big mastermind villain you say he is, don't ya think he's got contingencies in case something like this happens? If I was him, I'd probably have spies in the ranks of both the royal guards and the rebels to stir up trouble in case it looks like the war wouldn't happen." When he noticed the stares most of the crew gave him for that oddly detailed plan, he shrugged, "What? I read a lot of comic books when I wasn't training or working as a doctor on Drum. Sue me."

"It's true, he did," Chopper nodded sagely before gaining a mischievous grin. "I especially remember the 'My Little Bunny' comics he'd read!"

Naruto's face turned red as some of the crew giggled. "Shut up! The story lines in that were great! Besides, Purple Cake was hilarious!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night bro," Chopper giggled, only for Naruto to leap at him in full rabbit form and tussle with the human reindeer in the sand for several minutes before the seriousness of the situation returned.

Luffy then laid down the hard truth for Vivi: the world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows where everyone lived happily ever after. People would die in the coming conflict and that was the hard truth of the matter. He berated Vivi, saying that thinking she could save everyone, especially when their enemy was a Warlord of the Sea, was naive thinking. Vivi, not liking the brutal facts that the pirate captain was telling her, got into a violent scuffle, one which Luffy showed that he wasn't afraid to fight a woman as he didn't pull his punches on her. Luffy told her point blank that she didn't need to risk her life alone with this, that because they were friends the Straw Hats would be willing to risk their lives too. This brought Vivi to tears as she knew Luffy was right, that the best way to stop the fighting was to defeat Crocodile, but she'd been afraid of her friends getting hurt. That all changed when Luffy firmly stated that they'd risk their lives for her, their friend.

"Now," Luffy said seriously as he got up from the sand, "Tell me where Crocodile is?!"

 **Rainbase**

"Y'know in hindsight? We probably should have seen this coming," Naruto sighed as he sat on top of a pile of knocked out Marines (all of whom had a peace sign stamped onto their bodies) munching on a carrot absentmindedly. After an agonizing trek through the desert again, the Straw Hats finally made it to the oasis town of Rainbase, a land unaffected by the drought and a booming casino district...along with being Crocodile's base of operations. They were barely there for an hour when Luffy and Usopp, who had left to get water for the crew, had returned abruptly with an entire squad of Marines hot on their tail!

The Straw Hats (minus Chopper who had left earlier to go to the washroom) were chased through the city and were forced to split up. Naruto had to deal with his own group of Marines and was now debating his next course of action. "Hm. Should I go to that Rain Dinners place where that Croc-bastard is supposed to be and wait for the others there, or try finding them myself? I haven't seen Chopper since before we split up, so maybe I should look for him first?" he massaged his temples before throwing a tantrum, inadvertently kicking the unconscious Marines beneath him in his flailing. "Argh, I hate this planning stuff! Chopper's always better at that then me!"

So, caught up in his pouting that he didn't notice the disguised Baroque Works grunts sneaking up behind him, having recognized his rabbit form from the pictures Mr. 2 gave them, and were preparing to ambush the second doctor of the Straw Hats when one made the mistake of cocking his pistol. One of Naruto's long ears twitched and he turned with a savage grin on his face, making the goons freeze in place.

"Thank God for distractions and making cannon fodder so stupid!" Naruto cried out happily as he leaped high into the air above the grunts. Before they could bring their weapons to bare, Naruto was diving towards them with the speed of a meteorite. **"Rapid..."** he landed in the center of the goons and finished his attack **"...RABBIT PEACE!"**

Hands flashing out like the bullets from a machine gun, every single one of the BW grunts was hit by a tremendous force. So, great was the attack power, that each of the would-be assassins flew out of the city and into the desert beyond. Satisfied, Naruto shook the dust off his gloves and sighed happily, "Ah, nothing like taking out your frustrations on morons! Now," here he sweatdropped as he said in a deadpan, "I have no idea where to go from here."

"Bro? What are you doing here? And why are you talking to yourself?" a familiar voice called from down the street. Naruto turned his head, finding his favorite reindeer trotting towards him in 'Walk Point'. Naruto gave a sigh of relief at his immediate prayers being answered.

"Chopper! Thank God, you're back! Things…took a crazy turn while you were away." Naruto said with a sheepish chuckle.

Chopper looked to his little brother before looking to the pile of knocked out Marines that he was sitting on, all groaning in pain with the mark of Naruto's signature attack tattooed on them. Chopper's eye twitched a few times before he gave Naruto a deadpanned look. "Two minutes…I was gone for two damn minutes! What in the hell happened!?"

Naruto hopped off the body pile to land on front of his brother, who was still in 'Walk Point'. "Hey, blame Luffy and Usopp! They're the ones who had a gang of Marines PLUS Smoker chasing after us!" Naruto finished with his arms extended to the sides but that only made Chopper even MORE irritated. The older teens head jerked to the left and right in disbelief before he looked up to the disguised rabbit.

"I-wha-HOW!? _HOW_ did they do that!?"

Naruto stomped the ground. "I don't know, okay!? I'm just as fucking lost! They chased us and we all ran in different directions and I've just been sitting here wondering if I should follow them or wait a Rain Dinners for a group up!"

"Jesus Christ!" Chopper exclaimed, placing a hoof to his face and groaning in obvious irritation. This wasn't at ALL what he envisioned when he dreamed of sailing the sea with an awesome group of rag-tag pirates at all. He was still very much thankful that he's off Drum and is living out said dream but they just got done surviving for their lives from a damn desert! And now, after coming somewhere for them to get their bearings, proper rest, and stock up on more supplies, they're getting chased by Marines!? How was that fair in any sort of way!? Chopper gave a big sigh and looked to the people walking around.

"Okay…fine. As messed up as this might sound, I'm glad you're the one I found out of either of them. I know the two of us will at least work something out and whatever we choose, we'll just go for it all the way."

Naruto grinned and crossed his arms. That's more like it! Leave it to Chopper to begin working things out. "Alright! So…what's the plan Chops!?"

Chopper sweatdropped as he looked to his bro. "Naru, didn't I just say we'd work something out 'together'? Why do I have to do all the planning?"

Naruto kept smiling and gave him a look, making it glint in a devilish light. "So…you're saying you want my opinion on what we should do for a plan?"

Chopper was about to say something but remembered all the times he's followed through with a plan from Naruto…and none worked well at all. Ever. Not once. Chopper shivered as he still remembered that scar he received on one of his ass-cheeks from Kureha's scalpel throwing after Naruto's 'plan' to try and snag some sips of her plum sake a few years ago. It ended with a broken bottle of alcohol, her kicking, punching, slamming, and attempted maiming, along with some new scars in various locations that wounded the brother's pride every time they looked at them. Such as the one on the reindeer's butt.

"You know what? Yeah. I think I'LL make the plan instead. We should just try and find as many of the others as we can. We'll stick together, follow any of their scents that we might find but at the same time, should make our way to Rain Dinners." Chopper told the rabbit with a deadpan who just laughed and lightly patted his hat.

"Thanks, Chops! You're the best big brother ever!"

Chopper learned to _never_ dance when Naruto said that specific complement. "Oh, no! You aren't going to hit me with that line again! Every time you did that back home, the doctorine would kick our asses afterwards because of something I let you talk me into!" Chopper yelled at him which had Naruto laughing loudly as they ran off. Tracking the others wasn't as easy as Chopper wished it to be since all the crew's scents were all over the place, with some getting mixed in with others. Soon they found themselves jogging through an alleyway where they met up with Sanji after a small harmless encounter with Tashigi.

Sanji took a drag of his cigarette and huffed out cloud of smoke before looking to the animal brothers. "Glad to see you two are doin' alright."

"Sanji, have you seen any of the others?" Naruto asked but the cook shook his head.

"You're the first two I found after we all split up. But if I had to guess, I'm sure that the others grouped back up at Rain Dinners…least I hope they did. I wouldn't be surprised if Moss Head was running the opposite direction from the place."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Though, knowing Luffy, he's probably ran headfirst into a trap and dragged the others with him," he said with a deadpan.

Sanji took in a deep breath and blew out a large cloud of smoke in frustration. "Shit, that sounds like the rubber brain, alright. And my darling Nami and Vivi will be in danger if that's the case!" Sanji paced back and forth for a minute while the brothers tried to think of their own strategy before the suddenly cried out, "Wait, I think I have an idea!"

"Well what is it?" Naruto asked.

"Back in Little Garden, I talked with 'Mr. 0' using a transponder snail, so he knows my voice. If we can take out as many Baroque Works agents as we can around the casino, one of them's bound to have their own transponder snail. I'll then call shitty croc to lure him outside and once he's out, we'll block off the entrance to the casino and rescue the crew before he comes back."

"That's brilliant Sanji!" Chopper exclaimed with stars in his eyes.

"So, what will our jobs be?" Naruto asked, but immediately regretted it. The Zoans didn't like the look that entered Sanji's eye.

 **Later  
**

"I swear I'm gonna kill that pervert!" Naruto seethed as he darted down the streets of Rainbase, over a dozen goons on his tail. He should've known that Sanji's 'brilliant idea' would've been one that made him look like the hero at the end of the day! Why say this? Sanji, Naruto, and Chopper took care of the Millions guards surrounding the front of Rain Dinners with Sanji the first part of the plan going off without a hitch: Him calling Crocodile with one of the goon's transponder snails and addressing himself as 'Mr. Prince.' After that, it involved Naruto and Chopper covering themselves up in concealing Alabastian Garb and running around Rainbase, causing as much mayhem as possible and having the new batch of Millions believe that either one of them was Mr. Prince. The trick worked it's best if one of them could lose the Millions only for the other to cause trouble somewhere away from the other. The main plan was to draw out Crocodile… which also eventually worked.

That was great!

This meant that Sanji was now able to infiltrate the casino and get to the area their friends were all trapped in…. while Crocodile was now also on his and his brother's tail's.  
That was not great!

"Where the hell are you Mr. Prince!?" Naruto looked behind him to see Crocodile headed his way as a mist of sand. His face then formed out of the sand before he gave a grin and charged forward. "You're mine!"

"GAH!" Naruto yelled before he put on the speed and took off through the crowds of people, weaving through them with ease before he slid into an alleyway and dashed through the narrow passage. Luckily, Chopper was coming out of another alleyway in front of him, in 'Heavy Point'. They didn't say anything but high-fived the other exclaiming "Switch!" before Naruto ran into the alley Chopper came from.

Chopper, seeing the sand rushing at him, turned and bolted down the street. This cat and mouse game continued for a few hours before they managed to lose the sandy Warlord. They were now in the desert, making sure to get a safe distance from Crocodile and the city. They both breathed sighs of relief before sitting down in the sand to get some stamina back. The intense heat was something they still weren't really used to compared to intense cold for obvious reasons. Naruto and Chopper gave high-fives/hooves while noticing that the sun was setting.

"Holy hell! We were running from this guy for most of the day!?" Naruto exclaimed which had Chopper doing the same.

"Dammit! I hope Sanji managed to save the others! But now we gotta find 'em too!" He then thought of something else. "We should also get Eyelash! Can't leave him behind."

Naruto hopped up (no pun intended) to his feet and looked to him. "Sure, but how do you suppose we-" His ears twitched as he caught a repetition of noise coming from behind them. Chopper soon caught onto it too making them turn around, seeing a large mass of sand rushing towards them. When the cloud came closer, they saw a massive Moving Crab rushing at 'em. And on top of it was…what the?  
"Eyelash?" They both wondered aloud, heads dipping to the side in a confused manner. Never in either of their lives would they expect to be rescued by a camel.

" _Hey guys!"_ the perverted camel waved. _"This is Scissors. He's a giant dessert crab and a good friend of mine. He offered to help us out!"_

" _Oi, Eyelash, where's the ladies at, eh? You promised me some sexy eye candy if I helped those humans you hooked up with!"_ Scissors asked in a seedy voice not outside of someone who spent most of their free time in porno theaters.

Both doctors gained flat expressions at this. "Are all animals in this dessert perverts?" Naruto wondered aloud.

"Looks like," Chopper nodded before shaking his head. "Anyway, we appreciate the assist! Now all we gotta do is find the rest of the crew."

Suddenly, a familiar if repugnant stench filled the air, causing both Zoan users to nearly gag. "Well, I'm guessing that means Nami's getting closer. Smart of her to use her perfume to tell us where they're at. Still stinks though," Naruto finished the last part in a grumble.

The brothers quickly got on board the crab with Chopper taking the wheel, so to speak, on the makeshift reigns he made out of some of the spare rope they had. Soon enough, the crab-riding trio found the rest of the Straw Hat pirates. While some of the crew (read Usopp) freaked out at the sudden appearance of the house sized crustacean, the others were thankful that the doctors were both able to find them and find a fast mount to Alubarna (though Luffy seemed like he'd rather use Scissors' steamed and with a side of melted butter). With that, they were off with the giant crab making good headway across the sands. It wasn't all smooth sailing, however, as trouble soon reared its ugly head in the form of a sandstorm.

One that took on the appearance of a familiar looking Warlord.

Naruto's eyes widened as he shook his head. "No way! How did he catch up so fast!?" He said, already knowing that it was Crocodile.

The enemy pirate captain's hook with sand trailing behind it, lashed out and grabbed Vivi around the waist, yanking her off the crab with her screaming loudly. The other's all gasped in shock with Zoro yelling for Chopper to stop the crap. Once it did, Luffy leapt from his position and grabbed the hook, swapping places with Vivi. Throwing her back to the crab, he was now the one being dragged off.

"Luffy!" Zoro screamed with Sanji gritting his teeth at his captain's usual behavior.

"That damn idiot!"

Luffy looked back to them and screamed out, "You guys go on ahead! Don't worry about me!"

"Are you crazy!?" Naruto yelled before he stuttered for a bit. "No, I take that back! Why are you so damn crazy!?"

Chopper's hooves gripped the rope controlling the crab tighter, understanding what Luffy told them but not willing to leave their captain behind. After a whole day of running away from this psycho, Luffy just wanted to fight him out of the blue!? How could he fight him anyway? Luffy didn't care about that though as he gave them another order.

"Make sure you deliver Vivi home! Safe and sound, you have to promise me!" He then gave one of his infamous grins showing how serious he was. Hell, he didn't even look distressed. "Good luck you guys!"

Zoro growled. "Idiot," he turned to Chopper, "Hey, let's go Chopper! Just keep going to Alubarna!"  
Chopper nodded once, fully understanding that Vivi was top priority, not to mention their captain gave them direct orders.

"Right. Okay. Let's go crab!" He whipped the rope making them take off to Alubarna, hoping that Luffy would be alright against a Warlord. Usopp and Vivi were protesting, of course, about leaving behind Luffy but Nami and Zoro had full-on hope for their captain, sure that he'd win. Even their own lives were worth much less than Vivi's because of how serious the situation was in this country and only Vivi could stop this. This gave Vivi the boost in courage she had for this crew as she yelled to Luffy that they'd be waiting for Luffy to catch up to them.

The crew's journey was relatively quiet from then on, though they did spot a sandstorm in the distance where Crocodile and Luffy were fighting, causing the silence to be both tense and uncomfortable. Usopp tried passing the time by telling one of his tall tales about crabs to Chopper, who'd switched places with Naruto on the reigns. Zoro meanwhile was doing some improvised weight lifting by balancing Eyelash on the sheath of one of his swords. The tension continued until Sanji stated what everyone was fearing but no one wanted to say: that they were scared Luffy would lose. This in turn lead to Zoro and the cook getting amped up to fight, which Nami quickly put the brakes on via concussions applied to the two testosterone fueled guys.

While Chopper began treating the two meatheads from their not unjustifiable braining, reassurance on Luffy's victory came from Vivi, who assured them that Luffy was going to meet them in Alubarna. Usopp gasped out the irony that it was Vivi who was the most worried of the group while Nami dope-slapped her, reminding her to worry more about stopping the rebellion then for the Straw Hats. Though this did seem to alleviate the tension somewhat as the pirates got themselves pumped for the coming battle.

With four hours before the rebellion was supposed to start, however, the crew ran into something of a problem. Namely that Scissors couldn't cross the Sandora River due to his species being land based. This means that they'd have to try and swim the large river, which would be a problem in and of itself since the Devil Fruit users couldn't swim, as well as the fact they'd have several kilometers of dessert to transverse after crossing said river. This means that they'd never be able to reach the kingdom in time to stop the rebellion! Fortunately, Chopper came up with a plan to make some headway across the river. This plan involved three things: Nami, the revealing dancing girl's clothing that Sanji had gotten her earlier, and Scissors love of women.

As Scissors plowed ahead on all sex-appeal-fueled cylinders, both Sanji and Eyelash's minds broke at Nami looking like a more slutty Princess Jasmine from Aladdin. Naruto couldn't help the twitch in his eye as he watched the three males react towards Nami.

"Okay, the Pervy Cook I get. But why in the hell are Scissors and Eyelash like this? Nami isn't even their species for shit's sake!" he grumbled as he held onto the reins with all his strength to prevent them from going off course.

Chopper started to nod along to his brother's assessment before freezing and gaining a mischievous look in his eyes. Making sure to keep out of 'Rabbit Peace' range, Chopper said in a _far_ too innocent voice, "Gee, I don't know bro. Didn't you kiss Hinata while you were all 'rabbit'-y?"

Naruto froze as he started following his elder brother's thought process before leaning forward so his hat shadowed his eyes and he growled in an ominous tone, "Chopper, if you finish that sentence, there will be no doubt of the cause of your death!"

Heedless of the implied threat, Chopper's smirk was approaching shit-eating territory as he continued, "Wouldn't that mean you and Hinata are something of a furry coup-GRK!"

Chopper's smartass comment was cut off via two vice like legs wrapping around his throat as Naruto kept his hands on the reins. "DEATH BY SUFFOCATION!" he roared out.

Naruto was halted in his attempts to throttle Chopper when Scissors reached the river. Thanks to his 'speed boost', the giant crab was actually able to run on top of the water for a good distance. However, he wasn't able to make it the entire way across leaving the Straw Hats treading water 50km away from shore. Chopper was able to catch his breath (and keep his distance from a still steaming Naruto) by hitching a ride on Zoro's back while Naruto managed to keep afloat by hanging onto Nami (much to Sanji's jealousy). Things weren't looking good, and to make matters worse an enormous, man-eating Sandora Catfish suddenly surfaced and began to chase after them. Their fortunes took a turn for the better, however, at the unexpected but welcome arrival of the Kung-Fu Dugongs!

The aquatic martial artists beat the giant catfish unconscious in a matter of moments, and the crew was able to get a ride on the out cold fish with the Dugongs hauling them across the river. According to the Dugongs (with Naruto and Chopper acting as translators), they couldn't abandon their fellow 'disciples', thinking that the Straw Hats were Luffy's disciples. Not that the pirates were going to correct them, however!

They were able to make it across the river with three hours to go. But this still left the problem of how they'd manage to cross the remaining distance in time. Even with Eyelash able to carry two people and Naruto and Chopper possibly being able to use their speed to their advantage, they'd still have people needing a ride as well as the possibility of having to deal with the Baroque Works' agents. Luck was on their side again though, as help came in the form of Carue who was leading his group, the Supersonic Duck Squadron! The fastest land animals in Alabasta, and there were enough ducks for each of the Straw Hats to ride.

Before heading out, the crew decided to disguise themselves in similar cloaks figuring that the remaining B.W. agents would be targeting Vivi since she'd be the biggest threat to their plans. As they got closer to the city, Naruto used his superior hearing to spot where the agents lay in wait. Unexpectedly, there was seven agents gathered instead of the five they'd expected. When Naruto told Vivi this, she bit her lip in worry.

"I was afraid of this. Crocodile called in the Mr. 6/Miss. Mother's Day duo. With Mr. 3 and Miss. Goldenweek along with 5 and Valentine's Day, Crocodile called them in as substitutes. And they're the only duo I have little to no information on, only that they're both two of the youngest Agents and like Mr. 13 and Miss. Friday they have talents to take on Devil's Fruit users," She informed the others as they raced ahead.

Zoro stated in a no nonsense tone, "Then whoever has to go up against them needs to be extra careful. For now...DODGE!" He finished with a yell as the sound of a cannon fired, shooting (of all things) a baseball at the approaching group. It was quickly clear that this was no ordinary baseball, however, as it started ticking when it landed and soon exploded! Fortunately, the Straw Hat's mounts were too fast and were able to dodge the explosion.

The group then started to split up as they had earlier planned, with Chopper (in Heavy Point) and Sanji went to the Southern Gate of the city, Usopp and Eyelash to the Southwestern Gate (with one of their mounts running over a peeved Mr. 2), with Zoro and Nami went to the Western Gate.  
Vivi, Carue, Naruto and his mount all stuck behind in the rocky terrain, the latter staying behind in case Vivi needed backup. They witnessed the agents going after the decoys and got ready to depart themselves. Naruto turned to the princess and asked, "Are you ready?"

Vivi, with a look full of determination, said, "Whether I'm ready or not is irrelevant. I _have_ to do this if the rebellion is to be stopped. All I can do now is pray the others will be alright."

Naruto placed a comforting hand on Vivi's shoulder and gave her a reassuring, if somewhat sharp-toothed, smile. "Hey, don't worry. While I haven't been on the crew long, I know my bro and the others can take care of themselves. Now," he gave her a thumbs up, "let's go stop a rebellion!"

"Hmph, looks like I was right. Vivi wasn't part of the initial group," an unfamiliar male voice spoke gruffly, causing the small group to tense up.

"Yeah, yeah fucktard. You and your goddamn super hearing can get off your high horse before I kick you off," a harsh female voice grumbled.

Vivi paled, "The Mr. 6 team…" she bit out weakly.

Naruto for his part got off his duck and gave a serious look at Vivi. "I'll hold them off, you go on ahead and don't look back." Vivi looked ready to protest before Naruto shot her a confident grin and said, "Hey, I got this. After all, I'm a Straw Hat pirate too!"

Vivi hesitated for only a second before smiling at the young pirate and giving a nod before snapping the reins on her mount and streaking off towards the city, Naruto's duck following after.

"Do you honestly think we'll let you get away?" the male voice asked in a mocking tone before Naruto's sharp ears picked up a sharp sound filling the air. Noticing that the sound seemed to be heading in Vivi's direction, Naruto acted fast and used 'Rabbit's Peace' to knock one of the large boulders in the area into the path of whatever it was they were going to attack Vivi with. And none too soon, as the second the boulder got in the way between Vivi and the unseen attack, it shattered into a pile of pebbles.

Once the dust settled, it revealed that Vivi was now just a spot in the distance and was unhurt if the speed she was traveling was any indicator. Seeing this, Naruto heaved a mental sigh of relief before turning towards the source of the voices and attack before calling out, "Looks like she's the one that got away after all! Why don't you settle for me instead? After all," with this he narrowed his eyes and cracked his knuckles on his hand, "I won't run."

"...Very well," the male voice stated with barely concealed anger at being thwarted in his voice. With that, two figures came into view.

 **Naruto vs Mr. 6 and Miss. Mother's Day**

Naruto grinned as he eyed his opponents. Mr. 6 was a young man, probably in his early teens who looked largely like a mummy in that most of his face was wrapped in bandages save for one of his eyes. He also wore a large poncho with long sleeves that went past his hands, a snake patterned scarf around his neck, and a straw raincoat covered his back. Miss. Mother's Day was a girl around the same age as 6, with brown eyes that were accentuated by her eyelashes extending into the corners of her eyes and had an impassive expression on her face. Her hair was long, untamed, and blood red that fell past her shoulders with long parted bangs framing either side of her face and one between her eyes. Mother's Day's attire was a black shirt under a tan tunic with elbow-length sleeves and black skin-tight shorts. She wore black arm-warmers, black sandals with calf-length leg warmers covered by bandages, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around her waist. To keep her wild hair out of the way, Mother's Day also wore a black hat with pipe-like stripes and bandaged sides, keeping her bangs in place while the rest was pushed back behind her ears to trail down her back.

"So, I guess I get a two for one special, huh?" Naruto asked casually as he adjusted his gloves. He then gave a wide grin showing all his teeth, "Lucky me!"

Mr. 6 stepped forward, pulling the sleeve of his right arm up to show some kind of metal gauntlet with holes was strapped to his wrist. "I think you underestimate the situation you're in, _boy_ ," he said in a dangerous tone. "Miss. Mother's Day and I are more than capable-"

"Oh for fuck's sake, Dosu," Mother's Day spat out, "I told you to stop using that shit awful code name when the Boss ain't around! Call me Tayuya, you mummy prick!"

'Dosu,' let out a long suffering sigh at this as he said dryly, "Could you once act professional, Tayuya?"

"Bite me!" the redhead growled.

Naruto snickered at the exchange, "Trouble in paradise?"

"Screw you too, cottontail!" 'Tayuya' snapped, "I ain't using fuckin' Mother's Day as a fuckin' code name! I wanted to be something badass like 'Halloween,' but noooo! Apparently, Sir Crocodick already had the code names prepared, so I'm stuck with the holiday name that nobody takes fucking seriously!"

Dosu stared flatley at his partner with his visible eye. "You done?"

In response, the assassin flipped the mummy the bird while pulling out a flute from a bag on her back. Dosu simply rolled his eye as he rolled back his sleeve to fully expose his gauntlet. Turning his attention back to the second doctor of the Straw Hat Pirates, he demanded in a professional tone, "Tell us where the princess is going, and we _might_ only incapacitate you."

Naruto gave a sarcastic grin as he put his hands into his signature Rabbit's Peace positions and replied, "Gee, what a swell offer mister! Here's my counter offer; why don't you and Miss. Sunshine over there take the nearest ship out of Alabasta and then proceed to go screw yourselves?"

The two glared murderously at that as Tayuya opened up her sailor's mouth and spat, "Oh, it. Is. ON, you limp-dicked, albino kangaroo, FUCKTARD!"

Naruto lost his grin at that as he narrowed his eyes. "Kangaroo? Get your animals straight: I'm a bunny, bitch!" With that, said bunny literally jumped into action as he began the battle of his life.

 **Chopper vs. Mr. 4 and Miss. Merry Christmas**

Chopper gulped slightly as he viewed his opponents. Mr. 4 was a large, fat man with thick lips and short blonde hair. His outfit was a green shirt with a large number 4 on it along with an orange scarf, black pants, and brown shoes. Strapped to his back was what appeared to be a large cannon, most likely the same one that fired on the crew earlier. Miss. Merry Christmas was a stout, middle-aged woman with wild burnt red hair held back by a green headband. Her eyes were covered in large, purple lensed sunglasses and around her neck was a Christmas tree shaped necktie. She wore a basket on her back while her clothes consisted of a white shirt, purple flowered pants, and sandals.

Since the ducks who carried Usopp and Eyelash showed up, Sanji went to go assist the two when Chopper assured him he'd be fine.

'In hindsight, I think I'm in over my head,' Chopper thought nervously before shaking his head. 'No! I'm a Straw Hat now! Besides, Naru and I have been training for years taking on tougher looking opponents then these two. I can do this!' he finished his mental pep talk with a steam filled snort.

"Areyoufinallyreadytogo? It'sabouttimebrat, mybackwasstartingtoactupfromallthisstandingaround! Youmustbeprettycockytakingusonwithoutthatblondebastard'shelp! We'regoingtocrushyouintothesandandthenfindyourfriendtheprincess!" Miss. Merry Christmas shot off in a very rapid way of talking.

Mr. 4, meanwhile, said in a slow, stupid sounding voice, "Le...t's...fi...gh...t!"

"Here I go!" Chopper stated as he balled his hands into fists and got into a ready position.

 **Omake**

"By the way," Bon Clay added as he finished his performance, "I simply love the outfit! It really compliments your fur well."

"Huh?" Naruto wondered in confusion before awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "Uh, thanks?"

"Yes, we simply _must_ share fashion tips some time. Specifically in a more...private, setting?" the drag queen concluded with a flirtatious wink.

"Uhhh...I need an adult?" Naruto croaked uncomfortably and wondering where in the hell was the older members of the crew.

"I am an adult," Mr. 2 countered as he began his advance.

"GAH!" Naruto gasped as he jolted awake in his hammock. Realizing it was all a dream, the rabbit boy shuddered as he muttered to himself, "Okay, no way in HELL am I fighting that guy! And Sanji's gonna pay for adding in those hot peppers to my dinner!"

 **Omake 2**

"So, Naruto, what did you do to Chopper when you found out he'd eaten some of your ramen without permission?" a curious Nami asked.

Giving the navigator a cheerful grin, Naruto responded with, "Well, let's just say that the following payback involved a pair of scissors, some quick drying glue, and several pillowcases full of feathers. And, you didn't hear it from me, but the people of Drum will swear that the doctrine had acquired a chicken with antlers for the next three months."

Nami, who was now pale and sweating nervously, just nodded in response and swore to never, _ever_ get on the rabbit boy's bad side. She also silently swore to step up her disciplinary measures. Can't have the new guy upstaging her, after all!

* * *

 **AN:** Some of you might be wondering from last chapter why we gave Chopper throwing needles and Naruto boomerang shuriken. Well for the former, Dimension Distorter got the idea from **This Bites!** where Chopper learns to be quite adept at throwing syringes and scalpels during his time with the Straw Hats, so we figured, why not give it a Naruto twist and add to Chopper's arsenal? For the later, mellra actually got the idea from the movie **Rise of the Guardians** , where the character Bunnymund (a Hugh Jackman voiced version of the Easter Bunny) used boomerangs to fight, so why not give our ninja based ninja a shuriken version of the boomerang?


End file.
